CONTENTS.
| PAGE. | |
| Preface | [VII] |
| Introduction | [ix] |
| CHAPTER I. | |
| Introduction—Language—Origin of the Art of Writing—Various modes of recording events which preceded it—Materials upon which men first Wrote—Stones, Bricks, Metals, Skins and Intestines of Animals, Tablets, Leaves, Bark, etc., etc.—The Egyptian Papyrus, from which Paper (so called) was first made—Process of Manufacture—Usual dimensions and extreme durability of Papyri—Modern Paper—Its general advantages to mankind—Supposed period of its Invention—The Introduction of Paper-making into Europe—Historical incidents connected therewith—James Whatman—The superiority of his manufacture—Adoption of the Fourdrinier-Machine—General advantages of Machinery over the Original Process, etc., etc. | [1] |
| CHAPTER II. | |
| On the Materials employed in the Formation of Paper—Method of Preparation—Processes of Comminution, Washing, Bleaching, etc. described—Paper-making by Hand—Paper-making Machine—Sizing Apparatus—Cutting-Machine, etc. explained—General Observations on what are termed Water-Marks—Manner of effecting the same—Importance frequently attached to them—Ireland’s Fabrication of the Shakspeare MSS.—Difficulty in procuring suitable Paper for the purpose—On the perfection to which Water-Marks have now attained, especially with reference to the production of Light and Shade, as seen in the New Bank Note, etc., etc. | [49] |
| CHAPTER III. | |
| Anecdote of an over-curious enquirer—Its probable application to many readers—Paper Making, when straightforward, extremely simple, but ordinarily involving considerable chemical and practical skill—Brief review of artificial aids—Anecdotes of the deleterious effects of bleaching, and of imparting colour to the “stuff”—Ultramarine, its use and abuse—Manufactured Paper, its varieties and peculiarities—Excise Regulations—Paper Duty—Conclusion. | [91] |
PREFACE.
The present work is founded upon Lectures recently delivered at the London Institution.
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.
In the illustration of the Lectures, (which here stand as Chapters 1 and 2),—the syllabus furnished by the London Institution being retained as a heading in each instance—I have the pleasing duty to acknowledge myself much indebted to the kind assistance of many friends in connection with the Royal Asiatic Society, the Hon. East India Company, the Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew, the London Missionary Museum, and the Bank of England.
So far as it has been found practicable to illustrate the present work, no effort has been spared, and in order to sustain the interest which was so strikingly exhibited at the delivery of the Lectures—the remembrance of which throughout life will be to me a constant source of gratification;—I have appended, amongst other specimens, a sheet manufactured from the same mould as I then employed.