Paper

“ History.—The art of paper-making is undoubtedly one of the most important industries of the present day. The study of its development from the early bygone ages when men were compelled to find some means for recording important events and transactions is both interesting and instructive, so that a short summary of the known facts relating to the history of paper may well serve as an introduction to an account of the manufacture and use of this indispensable article. ”

“ Looking at my adventure from this point of view then, I found I had to consider chiefly the following things: the paper, the form of the type, the relative spacing of the letters, the words, and the lines; and lastly the position of the printed matter on the [2] page. It was a matter of course that I should consider it necessary that the paper should be hand-made, both for the sake of durability and appearance. It would be a very false economy to stint in the quality of the paper as to price: so I had only to think about the kind of hand-made paper. ”

“ Suppose there are a dozen papers in the same city which are entitled to the Associated Press dispatches. Instead of making a dozen separate copies, which might vary through mistakes, one writing answers for all the dozen. First, a sheet of prepared tissue paper is laid down, then a sheet of a black, smutty sort of paper, then two sheets of tissue paper, then a sheet of black paper, and so on, until as many sheets of tissue paper have been piled up, as there are copies wanted. ”

“ The stone-pickers in spring in the meadows, often women, look at the bits of paper scattered here and there before putting them in their baskets. A line here and a line yonder, one to-day, one to-morrow, in time make material equal to a book. All information in our day filters through the newspapers. There is no subject you can name of which you may not get together a good body of knowledge, often superior, because more recent, than that contained in the best volumes, by watching the papers and cutting out the paragraphs that relate to it. ”

“ When the changes in paper manufacture at the close of the eighteenth century and in the bed-plate of a press at the beginning of the nineteenth century through the application of power to printing enlarged the sheets and altered their limit, the newspaper began to be folded for the weekly to a square octavo, and enlarged for the daily to a large ‘blanket’ sheet. ”

“ The subject of Paper and Paper Making is one which has been at all times regarded with considerable interest, independently of that attention to it which commercial pursuits, of necessity, demand. The confidence, however, which originally prompted me to treat the subject, has, been in no slight degree, augmented by the advantage which I possess in the experience of my father, extending over a period of nearly half a century. ”

“ On borrowing a book, immediately put a cover upon it—and let the cover be of clean, smooth, white or light-coloured paper. What is called nankeen paper is best and strongest for this purpose. Newspaper, or any paper that is printed, makes a vile book-cover. Beside its mean and dirty appearance, the printing-ink will not only soil your own hands while reading, but will do more injury to the binding than if it was left uncovered.
To cover a book neatly—take a sheet of nice paper of more than sufficient size, and lay the book open upon it. ”

“ Still, paper is a much more convenient material for rapid work; and it is an infinite absurdity not to secure the goodness of its quality, when we could do so without the slightest trouble. Among the many favours which I am going to ask from our paternal government, when we get it, will be that it will supply its little boys with good paper. ”

“ From a copy of this paper printed in 1769 is obtained the following announcement:—
“The bell-cart will go through Boston, before the end of next month, to collect rags for the paper-mill at Milton, when all people that will encourage the paper-manufactory may dispose of their rags:
Rags are as beauties, which concealéd lie,
But when in paper, how it charms the eye!
Pray save your rags, new beauties it discover;
For paper truly, every one’s a lover:
By the pen and press such knowledge is displayed
As wouldn’t exist if paper was not made. ”

“ Fig. 1.—PAPER-MAKING BY HAND.
THE MANUFACTURE OF PAPER.
The advantages which the civilized world owe to the invention of paper are beyond calculation, and almost out of the reach of thought. The great blessing of knowledge which it has conferred on mankind, together with its peculiar mission, renders it a subject of interest to all classes of society. ”

“ Printing has established, as indestructible, all knowledge, and disseminated, as the common property of every one, all thought; while paper has made the work of printing cheap. Such reflections as these, however, are trite, and must occur to every mind. ”

“ Imitation Art Paper.—To meet the demand for a cheaper paper than art paper, with some of the characteristics of the latter, such as opacity, absorbency, and a surface suitable for printing half-tones, imitation art papers have been introduced. They contain a large proportion of loading, and receive a good surface, the water finish being usually adopted. ”

“ There is too much swivel-chair composure; too much beatific reassurance, when proofs are submitted on good paper, from a flat-bed engraver-house press. A newspaper series is very apt to look 100 per cent when presented on the final electro sheet, or bound into a neat booklet for the dealer and printed on coated stock. ”

“ Then "end-papers"—sections of plain paper added at the beginning and end of the volume to protect the first and last, the most exposed, sections of printed matter constituting the volume proper—having been prepared and added, the sections are beaten, or rolled, or pressed, to make them "solid." ”

“ If further argument were needed, it would be found in the principle noscitur a sociis. 'Printed matter' is named in the list with engravings, maps, charts, illustrated papers. With these, printed pictures are naturally associated.
With components and manufactures of paper are paper sized or unsized and glued, used for books and newspapers exclusively. ”

“ THE CONSTITUENTS OF PAPER The technique of paper-making varies greatly in accordance with each particular product. In fact, so wide is the range of paper products, that the different branches of paper-making severally require knowledge so special that an artisan in one branch might be as useless in another as if it were an entirely different industry. The coating of paper, for example, is an absolutely different trade from that of paper-making. ”

“ The trick, if you remember, was to show a pad of about a hundred sheets of paper unwritten upon, and to wrap the pad up in a newspaper, and to allow Marsh to hold one end while she held the other. Then the sound of writing was heard as if some one was writing on the paper, and when the newspaper was opened every sheet in the pad was written upon. ”

“ The changes or fashion in the selection of writing papers are worthy of passing notice. The rough hand-made papers so heartily despised by the copyists of the thirteenth century are now preferred by neat penmen and skilled draughtsmen. The imitations of mediaeval paper, thick, harsh, and dingy, and showing the marks of the wires upon which the fabric was couched, are preferred by men of letters for books and for correspondence, while highly polished modern plate papers, with surfaces much more glossy than any preparation of vellum, are now rejected by them as finical and effeminate. ”

“ It is hardly necessary to remark, that paper is of various qualities, from the finest bank-note paper, down to the coarsest kinds employed in wrapping up merchandise, and that, for every quality, suitable materials are chosen. ”

“ As the size of the sheet is small they increase their papers by adding numerous supplements, each devoted to some particular subject. The Sunday issue of a Berlin paper is like a miniature library of books on all subjects.221 I do not know which is the more surprising to an English reader, to purchase one of these weekly encyclopædias in Germany or to get buried in a huge American Sunday paper with stories, news and illustrations all spread hugger-mugger over sixty or seventy gigantic pages with nothing to guide him through the intricacies of either. ”

“ The ideal paper for printed books is an all-rag paper, moderately sized, with antique or rough finish, excellent in handling and appearance, but the price precludes its use for any but the most luxurious editions. ”

“ Wright. "The printing of a paper is a wonderful process to see. I have a great admiration and respect for a fine newspaper, anyway. When one considers how widely it is read and the influence it possesses for good or evil, one cannot but take off his hat to it. No agency in the community can more quickly stir up or allay strife. Public opinion to no small extent takes its cue from the papers. ”

“ Chart Papers.—Largely used by lithographers for map and chart printing. Machine-made, the best qualities are all-rag, tub-sized, with smooth surface. Must be strong, pliable, tough, resistant to wear, and at the same time a good printing surface is essential. The manufacture is arranged so as to avoid subsequent stretch.
Cheque Papers.—Good quality of paper, specially made for strength, usually all-rag. Special watermarks may be employed, or protection from fraud is obtained by special printing. ”

“ A limited number of copies of each paper, in pamphlet form, is distributed to specialists and others interested in the different subjects as soon as printed. The date of publication is printed on each paper, and these dates are also recorded in the tables of contents of the volume. ”

“ Paper.—Writing paper is always supplied in the office. Even when one is a correspondent in a neighboring town, stationery, including self-addressed envelopes, is frequently furnished by the journal for which one corresponds. ”

“ The century that has marked such material progress in the production of paper has been pre-eminently one of vast intellectual and industrial activity and advancement, and it is a fair statement that paper has not only contributed largely to the general progression that has taken place, but through it as a medium standards have been reached that must have remained unknown were it not for its efficient service. ”

“ The complete examination of an art paper, apart from the practical test of printing, involves the determination of the amount of coating matter added to the paper, the proportion of glue in the coating, and the usual analysis of the paper itself. ”

“ Paper, combs, wool, soap are all manufactured. The first of these engages four large establishments on the Don and one on the Dee at Culter. Writing paper and the paper used for the daily press and magazines as well as the coarser kinds of packing paper are all made in considerable quantity. ”

“ The more liberal use of paper at the beginning of the fifteenth century by this newly- created class of readers and book-buyers marks the period of transition and of mental and mechanical development for which the crude arts of paper- making and of black printing had been waiting for centuries. We shall also see that if paper had been ever so cheap and common during the Middle Ages, it would have worked no changes in education or literature ”

“ Some papers are packed conscientiously, the manufacturer or stationer recognising the fact that a valuable paper demands a good packing paper. The use of poor paper is strange, seeing that the printer is charged for the wrapper at the rate quoted for the contents. ”

“ Not a single paper has a reporter. Two men are considered plenty to clip and translate for a daily, and it is not unusual for them to borrow type to set the paper. All the type-setting is done in the daytime and a morning paper is ready for sale—if anybody wanted it—the afternoon before. ”

“ Selection of paper to suit a particular job calls for experience in handling both the finished work and the plain paper. Judging papers as being equal to patterns or samples, and forming an opinion of comparative values, are also to be gained only by long experience. ”

“ If you use paper pads or other assorted pieces of paper to write down your ideas or take notes during meetings and seminars, you may lose important items or waste too much time looking for ideas later. ”

“ Each man, with his modern newspaper-printing press, taking its paper from its miles of rolls, printing, cutting into sheets, pasting together, folding and piling ready for the carrier, does the work that five hundred men would have been employed to do a century earlier, and then it would have been a work very badly done, as gauged by our standards. ”

“ The paper shown in Fig. 166 consists of twelve pages printed upon a press with a form capacity four by six inches, and is given up entirely to the publication of original stories and poems.
Some boys who do not own presses have the printing done by professionals, but simply to edit a paper gives them but half the pleasure and experience derived from executing all the work themselves,—editing, printing, binding, mailing, etc. ”

“ It must be conceded that while many things will serve as printing surfaces, the question of cost decides against their general use, and that paper is the principal material employed for written and printed books. ”

“ Experience consists of being familiar with the original, the kind of paper used, the colours, peculiarities and also defects, particularly the defects, as when the stamps were printed that are now rare, the art of printing was in its infancy compared with our times. ”

“ Paper makers are, however, supplying a dull surfaced highly calendered rag paper which is very good for artistic and scientific illustrations and obviates both the glossy surface and the supposed lack of permanency of chromo paper. ”