LAID AND WOVE — HUNTER. 591 



However, not all of this edition was printed on the newly invented 

 wove paper, as Eeed 3 says, " * * * of the two copies in the pos- 

 session of Mr. S. Timmins, one is printed on very fine banknote 

 (wove) paper and the other, more heavily, on coarse brown paper." 

 Shenstone 4 says of this Virgil, " My neighbor, Baskerville, at the 

 close of this month (March, 1757) publishes his fine edition of 

 Virgil ; it will for type and paper be a perfect curiosity." 



It was wove paper that Benjamin Franklin exhibited in Paris 

 in 1777 or 1778. This novel paper created such a favorable impres- 

 sion with the paper makers and printers of France that molds were 

 procured from England, by way of Holland, for producing the 

 same kind of paper that the English were making. Franklin wrote 5 

 a short article, which was published in 1793, on this newly discovered 

 mold covering that was creating such a sensation. 



As John Baskerville figured so prominently in the evolution of 

 paper making, a short sketch of his life will not be out of the way. 

 He was born in Wolverley, in Worcestershire, England, in 1706. In 

 the year 1725 he kept a writing school at Birmingham, and in 1745 

 entered the japanning business; there he developed a liking for 

 things of a mechanical nature. Baskerville later started in the 

 printing trade while still occupied with japanning. For his types 

 he cut his own punches and did much to elevate type design 

 in England. The books that he printed are known for their neat- 

 ness, brilliance of ink, and the smoothness of the wove paper. This 

 he accomplished by placing each sheet as it came from the press, 

 while the paper was still damp and the ink undried, between hot 

 polished plates of copper and giving them a pressing. The first 

 paper he used came from Holland, but it is stated that later he 

 established his own paper mill. After the death of Baskerville, on 

 January 8, 1775, his widow continued the printing business, but she 

 issued but two books. However, she continued the type foundry 

 until 1777. Many efforts were then made to sell the punches, 

 matrices, and types in England, but to no avail. The complete outfit 

 was finally purchased in 1779 by the celebrated M. de Beaumarchais, 

 of France, for the sum of £3,700. This gentleman was a scholar of 

 note, and he set up one of the finest printing establishments on the 

 Continent. He reestablished three paper mills in the Vosges about 

 15 miles from Kehl, where his printing enterprise was located. The 

 best paper makers that could be obtained from Holland were em- 

 ployed, and his paper was unequaled at the time. 



s Talbot Baines Reed, " A History of Old English Letter Foundries," etc., p. 271, 4to, 

 London,, 1887. 



* Shenstone's " Letters and Works," Letter 88, 1791. 



6 Benjamin Franklin, " Description of the process to be observed in making large 

 sheets of paper with a smooth surface," (In American Philosophical Transactions, Phila- 

 delphia, 1793, vol. 3, pp. 8-10). 



