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Transcriber’s Notes


Sidenotes were printed in italics, but in the Plain Text format of this
eBook, they are indicated by diamonds: ♦text♦, either preceding their
paragraphs or within them. Other italic text is indicated by
_underscores_.




  THE STORY OF
  PAPER-MAKING

[Illustration: A MODERN PAPER-MILL]




  THE STORY OF
  PAPER-MAKING

  AN ACCOUNT OF PAPER-MAKING
  FROM ITS EARLIEST KNOWN RECORD
  DOWN TO THE PRESENT TIME

  _ILLUSTRATED_

  J. W. BUTLER PAPER COMPANY
  CHICAGO ::  ::  ::  MDCCCCI




  COPYRIGHTED
  BY J. W. BUTLER PAPER COMPANY
  JANUARY, 1901




    THE ABSENCE OF NON-TECHNICAL WORKS UPON THIS INTERESTING
    SUBJECT PROMPTS THE AUTHORS TO PRESENT A TREATISE FROM THE
    STANDPOINT OF THE LAYMAN, AND FOR HIS USE




CONTENTS


  CHAPTER                                              PAGE
    I. ARTICLES SUPPLANTED BY PAPER                       1

   II. PAPYRUS AND PARCHMENT                             12

  III. ORIGIN AND EARLY HISTORY OF PAPER                 20

   IV. EARLY METHODS OF PAPER-MAKING                     49

    V. MODERN PAPER-MAKING                               55

   VI. WATER-MARKS AND VARIETIES OF PAPER                95

  VII. EXTENT OF THE BUSINESS IN THE UNITED STATES      123




PREFACE


It is a rare privilege to stand as we do at the meeting-point of
the centuries, bidding a reluctant farewell to the old, while
simultaneously we cry “All hail!” to the new; first looking back over
the open book of the past, then straining eager eyes for a glimpse
of the mysteries that the future holds hidden, and which are to be
revealed only moment by moment, hour by hour, and day by day.

The nineteenth century, so preëminently one of progress in almost every
line of mental and material activity, has witnessed a marvelous growth
in the paper industry. It was in the early years of the century that
crude old methods, with their meager machinery, began yielding to the
pressure of advanced thought, and the development since has kept full
pace with the flying years. The hundred years that have written the
modern history of paper-making mark also the period during which the
J. W. BUTLER PAPER COMPANY, or its immediate predecessors, have been
associated with the industry in this country. It has therefore seemed
to the present representatives of the company that the closing year of
the century was an especially fitting time to put into story form the
history of the wonderful and valuable product evolved almost wholly
from seemingly useless materials, and they consider it their privilege,
as well as the fulfillment of a pleasant obligation, to present this
account to their friends and associates in the paper, printing, and
auxiliary trades. We

   “Know not what the future hath
    Of marvel and surprise,”

but we feel confident that the incoming century will bring changes and
improvements as wonderful as any the past has wrought, and we hope
that it may be our good fortune to in some measure be instrumental in
promoting whatever tends to a greater development of the industry with
which our name has been so long associated.

                    J. W. BUTLER PAPER COMPANY.




CHAPTER I

ARTICLES EARLY USED FOR PURPOSES NOW SUPPLIED BY PAPER


Full of dignity, significance, and truth is the noble conception which
finds expression in Tennyson’s verse, that we are the heirs of the
ages, the inheritors of all that has gone before us.

♦We are the heirs of the ages♦

Through countless cycles of time men have been struggling and aspiring;
now “mounting up with wings, as eagles,” now thrown back to earth by
the crushing weight of defeat, but always rising again, undaunted
and determined. “The fathers have wrought, and we have entered into
the reward of their labors.” We have profited by their striving and
aspiration. All the wisdom of the