Origin of Paper-hangings.
In early times, wealthy people were accustomed to have the walls of their rooms covered with tapestry, which was a combination of woven cloth and needlework, somewhat mid-way between the sampler work and the carpet work of our own day. These specimens of tapestry frequently represented some historical events, and were often worked by the hands of the lady of the mansion and her maids; but at other times were the work of men following that line of occupation. The walls of those rooms which were not thus covered, were usually of panelled wainscot, or oak.
But when tapestry went out of fashion, and a more lively covering for a wall than oak was wished for, a custom arose of printing or stamping certain coloured devices on sheets of paper, and of pasting those sheets against the wall. We believe that it is in England more than in any other country that this covering for walls is employed; and since the removal of the duty which was formerly laid on paper-hangings, they have become so very cheap as to be almost universally employed in houses of every class; indeed, it may be regarded as a circumstance not a little conducive to the comfort and neatness of humble dwellings, that a yard of printed wall-paper can now be purchased for one halfpenny. From this trifling price up to five or even ten shillings per yard, paper-hangings are now manufactured; so great are the improvements gradually made in the modes of manufacture.