592 ANNUAL BEPOBT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1021. 



While there is no set rule for distinguishing the paper of one cen- 

 tury or country from another, it is possible, by making a study of 

 laid and chain lines and the character of the wire impressions and 

 texture of the paper, to arrive at the approximate date. With wove 

 paper, however, it is not easy to attach any date to the sheet, but 

 paper of this kind was usually watermarked with a date, and as 

 wove paper has been made only since 1750 it is too recent to excite 

 much curiosity from a historical viewpoint. 



About 1820 there was a machine invented in England, but not 

 patented, which by means of fluted rolls imparted a ribbed appear- 

 ance to wove paper. This made the paper resemble laid paper some- 

 what, but the imitation may be seen when the sheet is held to the 

 light. This fluting was thought to give a pleasing appearance to 

 typography, and a great many books were printed on it during the 

 early nineteenth century. The vogue for this fluted paper was of 

 short duration, however, and genuine laid paper was rarely seen in 

 book printing until 50 years after wove paper had been introduced. 

 William Morris selected antique laid paper for use at the Kelmscott 

 Press, and this type of paper then came into favor with many of 

 the private press printers. At present, for fine book printing, either 

 antique laid or modern laid handmade paper is used, for it is con- 

 sidered to be more artistic than paper made on a wove mold. 



The laid and chain lines in paper form a means of determining 

 the sizes of antique books, which in many cases are wrongly cata- 

 logued as to their original dimensions. In the binding of books 

 they were often trimmed down so that a folio became a quarto in 

 size. Blades 6 says, "The weapon with which the binder deals the 

 most deadly blows to books is the ' plow,' the effect of which is to cut 

 away the margins, placing the print in a false position relatively to 

 the back and head, and often denuding the work of a portion of the 

 very text." 



Books are often catalogued by bibliographers by measurement 

 instead of by the paper. If a book is printed on a once-folded sheet, 

 it will always be a folio, no matter how much a ruthless or ignorant 

 binder may cut it down. This is true of all the different sizes of 

 books. The trimming was possible in old volumes, as the margins 

 were left wide for the notes of the readers, so that a folio could be 

 cut down several inches without interfering with the printed text. 

 The only way to arrive at the correct size of an old book is to examine 

 the paper on which it was printed. In the paper molds the chain 

 lines ran the short way of the sheet and the laid lines the long way, 

 the watermark appearing in the center of the sheet (see fig. 1). In 

 a folio the sheet was folded in the center, through the watermark, 



• William Blades, " Les Livres et Leuis Ennemis," page 99, 8vo, Paris, 1883. 



