INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF PAPER
HISTORIANS
Questions &
Answers
1 February 2010
This is a
service to all people interested in paper and its applications
CALL FOR ANSWERS: PLEASE SEND US ANSWERS TO THE QUESTIONS BELOW
please refer to the date of the question received!
QUESTIONS WHICH REMAIN UNANSWERED FOR 6 MONTHS
WILL BE DELETED FROM THIS PAGE
Please try to
find answers first by using the main search engines, like Google, Yahoo and Altavista
Do not expect to
receive quick answers, it will probably take a few days before questions are
put on this website
and it may take a
few weeks or months before someone sends us an answer.
Questions about
watermarks: generally you may find similar types in the Watermark reference
books, like Briquet, Churchill and Piccard
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Answers and Reactions
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You can have your question put right here, |
Please send us your questions & answers and
further information - more than one answer is most welcome! - for inclusion in this table. Please refer to the question
and it's date. If you want to remain anonymous,
please indicate so |
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I am looking to indentify the manufacture of
this watermarks. Early 20th century, white laid paper. Rachel Mustalish (question received 31/01/2010)
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Who's got the answer to
this question?
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Hello, I came across your site while trying to figure out
where this paper is from and how old it may be. I am curious as to what this
watermark is and where it is from. My friend purchased this picture at an
estate sale.vIt looks to be quite old and has a other stamp in the right hand corner. Any information
you may have would be very helpful. I looked around the internet and I was
unable to find anything close to this water mark. There is a name written on
the back of the picture but I am unable to make it out. Could this paper be
German or Dutch? If you need any other pictures please do not hesitate to
contact me. Thank you for your time and energy. Sincerely, Gregory Sullivan (question received
11/01/2010) |
Dear mr. Sullivan, your watermark is of the Fortuna type, which is relatively rare and found
in archival documents of around 1810-15 (cf. Churchill 193; Voorn, De papiermolens in de provincie Noord-Holland, 1960, p 141 no 193, ill p 224 and
cover ill.). It was probably produced in the Zaanstreek
area above With kind regards,
(reply
received 11/01/2009) |
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I am researching for a book
about the Chromolithographic edition of Audubon's birds of Joel Oppenheimer, President (question
received 20/12/2009) |
Dear Joel Oppenheimer,
you have many questions
and they are not easy to answer. To establish the content of wood pulp/rags
one needs a sample of the paper from the edition to be analyzed and to
find the provenance of the paper is even more complicated. I will send
your question to the web-site of IPH.
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I am
working with a 18th century manuscript from With
kind regards, L.Quetin (question
received 10/11/2009) |
Who's got the answer to
this question?
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Dear Sirs and Madams, (question received 30/09/2009) |
Dear
Charlotte,
Judging
from the dimensions your book is not small at all. Are they the dimensions of
the bookblock (i.e. a single page) or the openings
(i.e. two opposite pages)? Are you sure it is a manuscript and not a printed
book, or even a facsimile? It would help when you send reduced jpeg images of
the opened book and the watermark.
Albert
Elen
(answer received 22/10/2009) --------------------------------------
Dear
Charlotte,
Your
description indicates that it is laid paper, papier
vélin, but it does not correspond with the year,
written in the book. The first book that was printed on paper from a woven
mould was John Baskerville's book Publii Virgilii Maronis Bucolica, Georgica, et Aeneis
from 1757, according to my information.
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Perhaps someone can be of assistance. I am
researching a letter written in The " I would greatly appreciate it if anyone could
provide further information about the history of the watermark, or refer
me to any references. Thanks for any assistance. Mark (question received 07/07/2009)
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Dear Mark,
This is not a watermark
but a blind pressed (embossed) mark, which is not part of the papermaking
process.
Albert Elen,
(answer received 31/07/2009) |
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Hi, If anyone could shed some light on this watermark, it would be greatly
appreciated. The paper has a drawing on one side, 18th century I have been
told, and another drawing on verso, 17th or 16th century. Reldon Coffey (question
received 20/05/2009)
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Who's got the answer to this question? |
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I've found a
beautiful ink drawing in which paper features a watermark that could be a Van
Gelder watermark: a female figure standing on a
globe, the so called 'fortune' figure. I would like to know
how old could it be, and some information about general dating of this
watermark. Many thanks, Alessandro Querci (question received 22/06/2009) |
This does sound to
me like the Fortuna watermark. I have found it in a Malay manuscript (no. Or.
57) dated Russell Jones (answer received 31/07/2009)
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Van Gelder Zonen watermark indentification Hi,my name is
Lisa Duncan and I am a paper and photograph conservator in the Question: Lisa Duncan (question
received 05/04/2009)
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Who's got the answer to this question? |
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What is the difference between Steinbach sheets and Fabriano sheets? and what is the difference between hot
pressed sheets and cold pressed sheets? Namdar (question
received 11/05/2009) |
Who's got the answer to this question? |
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watermark on aid paper circa 1860 I am trying to identify the manufacturer of a laid paper which was
used to print a block of nine 10 cent Jefferson Davies stamps circa 1860 to
1870. I can make out part of the watermark of the manufacturer, it starts
with a L and has 5 letters namely L-ti-. Thank you in advance Fred Rigo (question
received 01/03/2009) |
Who's got the answer to this question? |
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Unicorn watermarks in British paper c. 1800 Dear Sir or Madam, I understand from various publications (such as Papermaking by Dard Hunter and others) that the Unicorn was widely used
as a watermark from the 15th to the 17th centuries inclusive. According to
Hunter one person, M.Briquet, has recorded over
1100 different renderings of this used as a device for marking paper. But it
was less used from the early 18th century onwards. But can you please say if
you are aware of any quality paper being manufactures in England which still
uses the Unicorn watermark form around, say, the year 1800 or just before?
The reason I’m interested is because the only example I’m aware of from around
that time seems to have been produced in the Austro/Hungarian Empire. But the
document in which I’m interested appears to have been produced in Many thanks for any assistance. Robert Newman (question
received 28/02/2009) |
Who's got the answer to this question? |
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wove paper Hi, I am a hand made paper maker from can any one guide me in suggesting a felt which can give a smooth
finish? Sundaram Srikkanth (question
received 20/02/2009) |
Who's got the answer to this question? |
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Blue lined note paper I would like to know how long blue lined note paper has been
commercially available. I have well aged 140mm x 225mm loose sheets of blue
lined paper and am curious how old it could be. Thank you Roy Rantilla (question received 07/02/2009) |
Dear Roy Rantilla Thank you for your question and interest in paper production. I will
send your question to paper historians with archival knowledge about the
actual production of the paper mills, but according to my own sample of a
folio sheet of handmade paper from Lessebo in
Sweden with blue lines it was common in the 19th century. With kind regards Anna-Grethe Rischel |
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Fabriano watermark dating I am curious whether these are Fabriano
watermarks of late 1500’s – they were from the same blank book. I would be
especially grateful to find where I can contact or view a database that may
confirm or show it with relative date. Thank you Ron Bodoh (question received 02/02/2009) |
Thank you for your question about the watermark added to your mail.
There are various data bases of watermarks and there are also a number of
catalogues to check, but maybe you have already done that. I suggest that you
contact Paola Franca Munafò at Istituto
centrale per la patologia
With kind regards Anna-Grethe Rischel (answer received 04/02/2009) Dear colleagues The question concerning the two watermarks came up to me. Although we
are concentrated on watermarks of the middleages I
looked up the repertories available at our commission – unfortunately without
results. If there’s the opportunity they are from Fabriano
perhaps it shows more promise to contact the papermuseum
there. With kind regards Maria Stieglecker (answer received 13/02/2009)
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Paper based filling system (#2) Hi Anna Thank you for your quick response. The word “a paper based filing system”
means the way a person or an organisation stores its files [paper or
electronically]. This could be in the form of a file or on the computer. We
as a team have to argue that keeping paper documents in cabinets is the right
thing to do. We have to motivate this starting from when paper was first used
stating the following: Regards Mphakamisi Mzamo Regards Mphakamisi Mzamo (question
received 16/01/2009) |
Dear Mphakamisi Mzamo Thank you for more information of your questions. You have put a lot
of questions and in my opinion you will get the most precise answers from Dr.
Józef Dabrowski who is
the most distinguished paper historian and specialist in pulp and paper technology.
I will forward your questions to his e-mail address. With kind regards Anna-Grethe Rischel
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Paper based filling system (#1) Please assist with the following question. Team A must prepare a
report giving arguments in favour of a paper based filing system. In your
debate, you must link your current change control process to the management
of your filing system. You must motivate its strengths and why this process
should not change. Convince the other team to maintain the status quo. Regards Mphakamisi Mzamo (question
received 14/01/2009) |
Thank you for your question that I want to be sure
that I understand correctly before I send it to a colleague with special
knowledge in this field. Please let me know if the word “a paper based
filling system” means a pulp machine filling out tears and missing areas with
new fibres with the combination of vacuum? With kind regards Anna-Grethe Rischel
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Watermark (question
received 08/01/2009) |
Dear Robert Hendry |
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Black paper, 1847 Hello, Mrs. Rischel: Thank you so much for
your prompt response. The black paper making up the front surface of the
silhouette is glued onto cardboard similar to that which was used on old
albumen photographs. The white side of the paper is down, being the side
glued to the board. Only a tiny edge of the black paper shows the white
backing so we cannot be sure that the whole of the black paper is backed by
the same very white backing, but it is probably safe to assume that there is
white backing of the black paper. The very even, tiny mesh lines are on the
face of the black paper. Due to the gluing, I cannot tell whether the white
paper has similar lines. I should give you a bit more detail on my inquiry. A
study has been made of the black paper used by some of the early, famous,
19th century silhouettists. That study showed that,
at least the silhouettes studied, were cut from paper made by applying a
black compound onto white paper, with the chemical structure of the compound
varying from one cutter to the next. I have found advertisements for black
paper in newspapers in the early 1840s, but have not been able to find
advertisements for paper made for silhouettes, nor did the study. The
knowledge I lack is whether a less skilled silhouettists
might have been able, in 1847, to have purchased a pre-made, finely and
evenly meshed black paper with a white reverse side. The authenticity of the
particular silhouette I am inquiring about is some what in question unless a
black paper with a fine mesh surface and backed with white was likely to have
been produced in the 1840s. If a black compound over white paper was
generally used by most silhouettists to make their
black paper, then the compound would likely cover over any mesh as fine as
that which appears on the surface of our black paper; or if the black paper
with a fine mesh on its surface and backed by white was an unlikely
production of the 1840s, then the paper of this particular silhouette would
appear to be an anomaly and make the 1840s date an unlikely one. What would
your opinion be? Again, thank you so much for the time you have taken on this inquiry. (reaction
received 02/01/2009) |
Thank you for your question concerning black
silhouette paper. I understand on your description that only the front of the
paper is coloured with black and that you can observe a structure similar to
a woven textile on the white reverse. The structure of the reverse side of
the paper is most often the impression of the material on which the paper has
been made; in handmade paper you will therefore not find any impression of
the laid lines and the chain lines of the metal wire in the mould, if it has
been covered with a woven material as is the case in Whatman
paper. In handmade Oriental paper made with a floating mould with a fixed
bottom of woven textiles the impression of the woven structure is to be found
on the reverse of the paper, if not a heavy polishing has taken place. The
structure that you observe in the paper from 1847 could indicate that it was
machine made paper and not handmade Whatman paper
and that the woven structure was the impression from the endless woven
material of the paper machine or that it was a pattern that was pressed into
the paper as an after treatment. I know from my studies of Japanese paper
from the end of the 19th century how any structure and surface could be added
to the paper to imitate embossed leather and there are many examples of
modern machinemade writing paper with textile
structure and chain lines and laid lines. I hope that my suggestions to your
question can help you and I will look for woven structure in machinemade paper from that period. Anna-Grethe Rischel |
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Pope Reel Bonjour, (question received 21/01/2008) |
Dear colleague, |
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Pfaffenweiler Blumenmacherin Hi, my ancestor, Johanna Keifer, immigrated
from Pfaffenweiler, Linda Wolff (question
received 01/07/2006) |
I know Dr. Frieder Schmidt, (answer received 04/07/2006) |
