Papermaking through eighteen centuries, by Dard Hunter

UUM_CENT_Page 295

TH OL WATERMARK 29 mark 1810 in every sheet" This made a difference of almost fif years from the date in the paper and the time when the paper wa actually made It would also be unwise to rely on a watermark as proof o where the paper was made or at what particular mill. Suppos that an early papermaker established a reputation for a superio quality of paper, there was nothing to prevent a newly set up mil from using the watermark of the older and more prosperous con cern. A good illustration of this in our own time is the imitatio of the watermark of the highly-esteemed Whatman mill, a concern that was established by James Whatman in Maidstone, Eng land, in x73r. Certain continental papermakers have for year duplicated the Whatman watermark and sold their papers without hesitation, the shees often being accepted as genuine man papers. It is not unlikely also that in the early years of paper‘making moulds were ssold by one mill to another without troubling to remove the wire wmcrmaxks; or the old worn moulds of large mill might have fllen into the hands of a less prosperou maker who fabricated an inferior quality of paper. In this way one watermark design might have been used by numerous mills, ove periods of many years, for papermaking moulds have always bee well and strongly made and they do not casily wear out if treate with any degree of care. From an archacological and artisti standpoint watermarks are of great interest, but for tracing definitely the dates of paper, or the exact localites of certain mills, th m'\rLs must not be relied upon too implici st all writers touching upon the subject of ancient pape and wat:rmnrks attach importance to small changes that often appear in papermarks depicting the same subject. This seems to b a mistake, for the slight variations may be due to very simpl causes. ‘The wire forms may have become detached from th moulds and have been replaced by a worker unskilled in wir Digital Imag © 2004 University of Utah. All rights reserved