THE TECHNOLOGIST. [July 1, 1864. 



530 MANUFACTURE OF PAPER-HANGINGS. 



It is commonly alleged thut we owe to the Chinese the art of paper- 

 hanging. That the English first imported into Europe, and subsequently 

 began to imitate the Chinese paper-hangings, seems pretty certain. The 

 beautiful hand-painted papers of China are still to be met in some old 

 family mansions in this country. But if we regard paper-hanging as an 

 indigenous art, and not borrowed from the far East or any where else, we 

 may not greatly err. Tapestry had been known to Europe for many 

 ages before the cheaper substitute, paper, for decorating the walls of 

 apartments was thought of. Tapestry was an ornamental figured textile 

 fabric of worsted or silk, employed for the very same purpose as that 

 for which we now use paper, and we can easily suppose the former might 

 suggest the latter. This conjecture is further supported by the fact that, 

 just as in the case of tapestry, which could only be afforded by the rich 

 and great, paper-staining came to be employed in France for the illustra- 

 tion of popular historical subjects. The French, in fact, called the art 

 " tapestry in paper," and the victories of the First Napoleon were repre- 

 sented in picture by this meaus. In France, paper-staining was a 

 recognised art as early as 1586. The earliest printing blocks for work 

 of this kind were those of Francois, who carried on a manufactory at 

 Eouen in 1620. Jerome Lanier patented in England, in May, 1634, the 

 process of flocking papers. In Lanier's patent it is stated " that by his 

 affixing wool, silk, and other materials of diverse colours upon cloth, 

 silk, cotton, leather, and other substances with oil, size, and other 

 cements, to make them useful for hangings and other occasions, which 

 he calleth Londriana, and that the said art is of his own invention." We 

 find paper-staining in England recognised as a trade in 1712 by the 

 imposition of a tax of lfd. per square yard for printing, in addition to 

 the duty on the paper itself. The great Chelsea manufactory was 

 established by George and Frederick Echardts in 1786. Flocking, 

 though so early known, appears to have fallen into disuse or been for- 

 gotten up to near 1800, when it was re-introduced. Arabesque papers, 

 as they are usually termed, were first introduced in any excellence by 

 Mr. Herringham, of London. The first method of making these flocks 

 (papiers tontisse of the French) was by stencilling — that is, by laying 

 upon the paper when on the wall a plate of metal or piece of pasteboard 

 having spaces cut out for the pattern, gumming those spaces with the 

 brush, and then dusting on the coloured wool powder to form the flock. 

 At an earlier period water colours were brushed on the paper ground by 

 the same means. 



At a period some few years before the beginning of the century, 

 Government restrictions hung heavily upon the manufacturers of paper- 

 hangings. The double duty of an excise of 3d. per pound on paper and • 

 lfd. per yard on its decoration, together with an annual licence of 201., 

 compelled the makers to use first-class paper, and thereby linfited their 

 market to the affluent. All these burdens operated, besides, like a 

 bounty in favour of our commercial rivals, the French. One effect of 



