The Quarterly No. 33 – January 2000
The Bicentenary of the Papermachine – Richard Hills
An account of the development of the first large-scale machine for making paper by Nicholas Louis Robert. Detailed descriptions are given of each part of the machine with an account of how it would have worked and subsequent modifications by Gamble. With a brief history of attempts prior to Robert's machine and a description of how paper is made by hand as background to the development.
8 pages, illustrated
British Paper Mills: Beoley Paper Mill, Worcestershire – Valerie Goodbury
A history of this mill and its occupants from its first documented mention in 1650 to the cessation of the production of paper in 1951 and its final demise in 1986. For part of its life at least part of the mill was a needle mill and a brief account of the development of the packaging and paper for wrapping needles is included.
6 pages, illustrated, maps
British Paper Mills: Oak Leaves and Acorns, Success and failures at Five North Lancashire Paper Mills, part 3 – Mike Malley
Further evaluation of the success and failure at Catterall, Matshead, Oakenclough, Higher and Lower Primrose Paper Mills between 1860 to 1920 using the factors identified in Part 1, namely Size, Distance and Paper Produced. The discussion is then extended to include more details under the headings identified by the historians in Part 2, ending with a paragraph on the possible effects of the Quakers business practices.
7 pages, tables
Pole-finding Paper
Pole-finding paper used by electricians for distinguishing positive and negative poles consists of paper moistened with solution of pottasium iodide. The ends of the two wires are placed upon this paper half an inch of so apart, when a brown spot will indicate the positive pole. Or blotting paper is impregnated with a solution of phenolphthalein and while still moist is passed through a solution of sodium sulphate (20 %). The paper is then dried at a moderate heat and cut into suitable strips. When required for use, moisten the piece of paper and place the ends of the two wires upon it at a distance of about a quarter of an inch apart; a red spot on the strip indicates the negative pole.
Book reviews
Printing and Bookselling in Dublin 1670 – 1800: A Bibliographical Enquiry. James W Phillips.
16th Century Italian Ornament Prints in the Victoria and Albert Museum. Elizabeth Miller.
Architectural Photoreproductions: A Manual for Identification and Care. Eleonore Kissell and Erin Vigneau.
The Quarterly No. 34 – May 2000
John Abbot Dusautoy, 1764-1846 – Ian Dye
Over a century and a half after his death, the place of John Abbot Dusautoy in papermaking history is neither well known nor well documented. His claim to recognition rests largely on his efforts to quantify and make more cost efficient the work of hand papermakers at precisely the time when the Fourdrinier machine was about to revolutionise the industry. This article attempts to trace Dusautoy's career as a papermaker, from Hampshire to Norfolk and then back to Hampshire, and
explores the nature of his work as a pioneer quantifier of papermaking cost accounting.
10 pages, illustrated, tables
The Hall & Kay Paper Maturing Plant
Short account of the development of the Hall & Kay Paper Maturing Plant, first introduced in 1934, for the artificial maturing of paper making it available for fine register printing a few hours after manufacture with details of some of the problems encountered by using unmatured paper and the methods used to overcome them.
3 pages, illustrated
British Paper Mills: Baskerville's Windmill – John Goss
The old notion that Baskerville 'invented wove paper' has been comprehensively disproved by many historians over the past half century, and it is now assumed that John Baskerville never made paper himself. However, the author offers us the fascinating possibility that perhaps Baskerville did make paper, perhaps not on a commercial scale, but enough for us to have to revise our thinking yet again. Both the author and the editor would be grateful for any further information that could shed more light on this complex problem. Editor.
4 pages
Vegetable Parchment, part one – Philip Harris
This article is about a fascinating substance, usually called 'vegetable parchment'. Today the substance is hardly known, but it is still being manufactured and used for purposes which are both interesting and banal, and it may yet be very important in the future. But the original wonder and rapture at vegetable parchment has long since evaporated. Perhaps it will return. The question arises: Was this one of the great inventions like the railway engine or the telephone, or indeed paper, or one of the disasters like the airship, or the Brabazon aeroplane, or one of the mediocre inventions like the hovercraft?
7 pages, illustrated
The Quarterly No. 35 – July 2000
British Paper Mills: Shotley Grove Mills – Jean Stirk
History of this mill from its first recorded mention in 1771 to its closure in the early part of the twentieth century. Initially owned by the Johnson family it was sold to the Annandales in 1812 who worked it till it closed. Details given include the papers produced, machinery, working conditions and pay and the relationship between the mill and the surrounding community.
7 pages, illustrated
St. Cuthbert's Paper Works General Rules and Regulations
Transcript of a document from the archives of St. Cuthbert's Mill, Somerset dating from c1900. Rulings cover health and safety, general dress and conduct, and leaving and dismissal.
1 page
British Bibliography of Paper History and Watermark Studies No 7 – Andrew
Honey
A listing of publications and articles published in 1999 relating to paper studies, also addenda to Bibliography No 6, 1998 (see The Quarterly No 31, August 1998, pp15-17).
2 pages
Printed Ream Wrappers and Labels – Peter Bower
An article giving details of the older type of ream wrapper decoration where the text and image are applied directly to the wrapper rather than the more familiar printed ream labels applied separately, such as the pre 1861 Excise labels. Some examples are illustrated and the author would be grateful for information on any other surviving British examples of woodblock printing either directly on the ream wrapper or onto separate labels with a view to assembling a library of images.
4 pages, illustrated
Vegetable Parchment, part two – Philip Harris
The continuation and conclusion to this article about a fascinating substance, usually called 'vegetable parchment'. Today the substance is hardly known, but it is still being manufactured and used for purposes which are both interesting and banal, and it may yet be very important in the future.
7 pages, illustrated
Book Reviews
Stowford Paper Mill and the Industrial Heritage of the Erme Valley. Colin Harris.
Days of Glory: The Story of Glory Mill, Wooburn Green, Buckinghamshire. Alan Mead.
The Lithographs of James McNeill Whistler. Edited by Harriet K Stratis and Martha Tedeschi.
Watermarks in Rembrandt's Prints. Nancy Ash and Shelley Fletcher.
The World's Friend – Paper – Peter Bower
A series of photographs from a variety of sources dating from c1900-c1930 illustrating the production of wood pulp from logging to finished bales. Where possible the original caption has been used, the title of the article is one example.
4 pages, illustrated
The Quarterly No. 36 – October 2000
British Watermarks: The Watermarks of the Wells Act Books 1378-1819 – Brian Luker
The Act Books are a fourteen volume continuous record of the convocations of the Master and Corporation of the City of Wells in Somerset from the fourteenth to the nineteenth centuries. The fact that the records are on paper is somewhat unusual as parchment was the normal medium during this time period. The author examined all the volumes and recorded the twenty different watermarks and several countermarks found in the volumes, all the watermarks are illustrated in the article and two of the countermarks. The papers were found to have originated from Italy, France, the Rhine valley, Holland and England.
9 pages, illustrated, table
Ich Bin Ein Berliner: Hand Papermaking in Berlin – Gandolf Ulbricht
An account of the activities of the author's hand papermaking studio established in 1992 and run in cooperation with a print workshop. Papers are made from many different fibres, but the studio also operates as a means of encouraging the use of paper as an artistic medium in its own right. He also produces artists' books, using an integration of drawing, watermarks and text to spectacular effect.
4 pages, illustrated, tipped in paper sample
Colonel Ironside's 1773 Account of 'Hindostan' Papermaking – Andrew Honey
An account of Indian papermaking which first appeared in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society in 1774. The interest in this account is that it documents the thriving eighteenth century craft industry before it was decimated by European imports, and shows the use of pure sunn hemp fibre.
4 pages, illustrated, tipped in paper sample
The Metaxas Letters: An Investigation into the Authenticity of a Group of Documents – Part One –
Peter Bower
An account of the author's investigation of a collection of eighty-nine letters addressed to Prince Andrew of Greece by his aide-de-camp Menelaos Metaxas between 3 June 1903 and 16 October 1913. The genuineness of the documents had been doubted and a sample had been examined at the University of Oxford Research Laboratory for Archaeology and The History of Art. The findings of this examination contradicted the evidence found within the paper itself and the author was instructed to examine both the papers and the methods of the laboratory.
6 pages, illustrated