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Show OLD~PAPERMAKIN 6 These wire forms were held in place on th surface of the moulds by means of threadlike wir stitched back and forth, binding the mark to th laid wires. In some of the older paper it is possibl to detect the sewing-on wires around the watermarks when the sheets are held to the light. I many of the early papermarks the sewing-wire are pronounced, owing to wire having been use that was almost as heavy as the wire of the mar itself. At least one writer has stated that the wir designs were fastened to the moulds by the use o soft solder, but this appears to be a mistake as thi method for holding watermarks in place was no used until the first part of the nineteenth century In noting the watermarks from the thirteent century the simplicity is striking as these device were made of clumsy wire Which would notadmi of much twisting, or forming into complicate designs. Duringthe fourteenth and fifteenth centuries the wires gradually became finer and th marlks more in detail A great deal has been written on watermarkin from a historical point of view but their value a a means of determining the dates of paper, books and prints or the locality where the paper wa made, is to be questioned. Few of the early watermarks bear dates and even when they do, the dat of the mark must not be accepted as the time o the printing on the paper. The sheets might hav Diital image © 2004 Marriot Libary, University of Utah. Al righ resrved |