Book Collecting: A Guide for Amateurs

Footnote

[3] To those who do not read French or do not possess Les Elzevier, Mr. Goldsmid's The Elzevir Presses, published as part of his Bibliotheca Curiosa, may be of some assistance. It is a species of compendium of the work of M. Willems, and was issued in 1889. It is somewhat faulty and incomplete; but not without its value to beginners in the study of the Elzevir press.

CHAPTER III.

PAPER-MAKING-DIFFERENT SIZES OF PAPER-DIFFERENT SIZES OF BOOKS-MEASUREMENTS WATER-MARKS-BOOKS TO CONSULT.

THE mould used by paper-makers is a kind of sieve of an oblong shape, bottomed with the very finest wire strands, all of which run horizontally from end to end. From top to bottom, and about an inch apart, are placed "chain wires," and on the right-hand side of the mould the wire water-mark, which, together with the wire-marks, appears semi-transparent. The reason of this is that both water-mark and wires are slightly raised, and of course the pulp is thinner there than anywhere else. Any ordinary sheet of paper held up to the light will show this, and serve to extra illustrate the following diagram.

Here CDEF is the mould which the workman drops into a vat of pulp, the fine strands run from G to H all the way down the mould, AA, &c., are the chain wires, and B is the water-mark, in this case a jug. The water in the pulp of course runs through the sieve, leaving a layer of soft matter, which after a while hardens into a sheet of paper. The water-mark was at one time the trade mark of the maker, but subsequently became merely a symbol denoting the size of the sheet of paper before it was folded. The smallest sheet was water-marked with a jug, as above, and termed "pot"; the next had a cap and bells, hence our term "foolscap"; the next a horn, hence "post". Others had a "crown," and so on. At the present day all water-marks have once more become trade symbols, and cannot be depended upon to afford any evidence of size; but at one time-i.e., before the year 1750-this was not so, and, therefore, these water-marks, irrespective of their antiquarian value, serve a useful purpose-namely, to point out in cases of doubt whether any given book is an octavo, quarto, or folio, or a variation of any of these sizes.

To refer once more to the diagram. Take a sheet of paper supposed to have come from the mould and double it in half at the line AX. The water-mark will in that event appear in the centre of the half sheet, and the folded paper is of folio size. Now fold the paper the contrary way, and the water-mark will appear at the bottom, but cut in half; the paper thus folded is quarto (4to). Now fold it the contrary way again, and a section of the water-mark will appear at the top; the paper thus folded is octavo (8vo). We can go on folding, and in every subsequent case the watermark will appear at the edges, while, as the paper gets smaller and smaller, the sizes are styled 12mo, 16mo, 32mo, and so forth.

In the example given, a book made of the sheet of paper in question would be a pot folio, pot 4to, pot 8vo, and so on; but as larger-sized papers were used, another book might be a post 8vo, or a crown 4to, &c., according to circumstances.

As stated, this is one way of finding out the size of an old book; but there is another way-by means of the "signatures," which consist of small letters or figures at the foot of the page of nearly every book. The leaves (not pages) must be counted between signature and signature, and then if there are two leaves the book is a folio, if four a 4to, if eight an 8vo, if twelve a 12mo, if sixteen a 16mo, and if thirty-two a 32mo. Take, as an example, this very book you hold in your hand, and it will be found that there are eight leaves between signature and signature; hence it is an 8vo, though a small one, owing, of course, to the small size of the paper from which it has been made, viz., crown. Had it been a little smaller (still preserving its oblong shape) it would have been a foolscap 8vo, if somewhat larger a demy 8vo, if larger still a royal 8vo, and largest of all imperial 8vo. The quartos and folios are governed by identical rules, and hence in the trade the sizes of books are very numerous.

Simple as this method of computation may appear, a great deal of controversy has taken place on the subject-so much so, indeed, that there are people to be found who stoutly maintain, and adduce proof to show, that what looks like a 4to is in reality an 8vo, or vice versâ. It would be out of place to enter into a discussion of this nature, and, therefore, I should advise the young collector to count the leaves between signature and signature, and to abide by the result, regardless of all the learned arguments of specialists. If there are no signatures, and the book is an old one, then study the position of the water-mark.

As examples, it will be sufficient to note that the Illustrated London News is folio, Punch is 4to, and the Cornhill and nearly all the monthly magazines are large 8vos. There is a large number of varieties of each size, but on the whole books which approximate to the sizes of magazines are of the sizes named. Occasionally in judging by the eye in this manner a mistake may be made; but of one thing there is no doubt, that a vast amount of argument would have to be expended upon the subject before the judgment could be proved to be wrong.

Paper-makers at one period made their sheets in frames of a given size, so that it was a comparatively easy matter to distinguish the size of a book at a glance. Now-a-days, however, there appears to be but little uniformity in this respect, and the difficulty is consequently considerably increased. The following measurements will, however, be found approximately correct, and they may be utilised in a practical manner by taking a sheet of brown paper of the required size and folding it as previously mentioned, thus forming crown 8vos, crown 4tos, elephant folios, &c., at will. The practice is good, and it will not need to be often repeated.

The only paper used, as a general rule, for making up into 8vo books is foolscap, post, crown, demy, royal, and imperial; 4to books are made up of all the sizes; though elephant and atlas are chiefly devoted to folios.

I now take leave of this branch of the subject, and return to water-marks, which, as previously stated, were formerly used, as they are now, for trade marks, and as trade marks only.

Before the year 1320, paper was very rarely used to write upon, but still there are a few examples of it having been so employed extant, the chief of which is an account-book preserved at the Hague, commencing with the year 1301. The water-mark on the paper of this book is a globe surmounted by a cross, while on paper of a little later date the rude representation of a jug frequently appears. The globe and the jug are consequently the most ancient water-marks yet discovered, and these became the principal marks on paper, then exclusively manufactured in Holland and Belgium. The "can and reaping hook" appeared a little later, so did the "two cans," the "open hand," and the "half fleur-de-lis," all executed, as might be expected, in the rudest possible manner.

The Holbein family at Ravensburg-a town famous to this day for the manufacture of paper-used a "bull's head". Fust and Schoffer (circa 1460) used a "clapper" or rattle, which has a somewhat curious history. At Ravensburg there was an hospital for lepers, and whenever any of the inmates had occasion to leave the building he was strictly enjoined to flourish a rattle with which he was provided, so that healthy folk could get out of his way. Paper made at the town is often found marked with the rattle, that having grown, by reason of its frequent use, into an institution of the place.

The next marks in point of date are in all probability the "unicorn," "anchor," and the "P" and "Y," the initials of Philip of Burgundy and his wife Isabella, who were married in 1430.

The famous English printer Caxton (c. A.D. 1424-91)[4] used the "bull's head" paper from Ravensburg, the "P" and "Y," the "open hand," and the "unicorn"; sometimes even the "bunch of grapes," which came from Italy.

The first folio of Shakespeare's works (1623) has paper marked with a "fool's cap" among other devices. The "post horn," another favourite device, which has given the name to a particular size of paper-namely, "post"-was first used about the year 1670, when the General Post Office was established, and it became the fashion for the postman to blow a horn.

In modern times paper-marks have become so numerous that it would be next to impossible to classify them; nor would...