^6 PROCEEDIKGS OF THE 



enquiry as thorough as possible, and to throw further light on a 

 subject already investigated up to a certain point. 



Mr. Lewis Evans and Mr. Johns expressed the opinion, at the 

 time of last year's address (p. 40), that the paper is probably a 

 Dutch hand-made. 



The late Mr. De Yinne also informed me, Aug. 25, ]913, that 

 "the hand-made paper sold in the United States about 1850 «as 

 largely of Dutch manufacture." 



It is now possible to come to a definite conclusion concerning 

 the watermark, which appeal's on pp. 19-20 of the booklet, and 

 concerning the letters I V to be made out from pp. 9-10 and 

 25-26. 



Last summer, Mr. Horace Hart, continuing the skilled help 

 which he has always given me in this enquiry, sent a photograph 

 of the watermark to Mr. C. H. Balston of W. and R. Balston, 

 Ltd., Maidstone, proprietors of the Whatman paper. Mr. Balston 

 recognised the device as that distinctive of his firm for paper of 

 Eoyal size (19 in. x 24 in.), namely, a shield A^ith three diagonal 

 cross-wires. He furthermore stated that the form of the device 

 was of an old type, shewn, by a fine series of samples kindly 

 submitted by him, to have been altered by 1831, when a broader 

 bolder pattern was substituted, and has been continued unchanged 

 to the present day. Unfortunately the photograph sent to 

 Mr. Balston did not include the lowest part of the device, which 

 in the Whatman watermark terminates with a W, but in the 

 pamphlet with a simple point, making a V, I wrote explaining 

 this to Mr. Balston, who replied, Nov. 11, 1913 : — 



If, as Tou say, the monogram in the watermark finishes off as a V, and not 

 as a VV, then I agree with you that the device is probably a pirated one. 

 I noticed in your photograph tlie centre of the W did not, ajjpear, but as ic 

 was on the extreme edge of the print, I thought possibly that its non-appear- 

 ance might be due to a fault in the printing, or that it appeared lower down, 

 so I did not attach much importance to it. Another pcjint which struck me 

 was that the upright lines were not the regulation distance apart, namely 

 1-1^"^ which is invariably the case in all the samples I have of this size 

 from 1781 up to the present day. In the photograpli showing the monogram 

 they are 1" apart. This might be due to shrinkage ot your printing paper 

 after washing the print, so I attached no importance to it. You could, 

 however, verify this point by measuring the original. I have made a fairly 

 extensive search through all the old papers and liave been unable to find anv 

 watermarks with the characters I V, as referred to in your letter of July 14. 



The letters I V are clearly to be explained as a fraudulent 

 rendering of J. W. (for James Whatman), which appear on the 

 earliest Whatman sheets, viz. 1781 and 1784 in the specimens 

 sent by Mr. Balston. It is probable that the imitated paper was 

 of very early date ; for in 1808 and 1810 J. W. is replaced by 

 J. Whatman, while W. Balston is added, although omitted from 

 later years, viz. 1831 and 1834. 



The upright lines of the pamphlet are not spaced at regular 

 distances, some of them being 1 in. apart, others as much as 1^ in. 



Considering the evidence as a whole, there can be little doubt 



