Burlington free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1827-1865, 1847-03-26

from which bark was taken to write upon. In /,
one Of the publications of the "London Society {
for the diffusion of useful knowledge" to which {
am indebted for most Of these facts, it is stated,
shat there are still extant some letters, and even
love letters, written by the ancient Scandinavia
ans on pieces of bark. A very curious library
of the kind was discovered some time ago among
the Calmucs; the books were very long and mar
row, their leaves OF thick bark, vanished over ;
the writing lchite on black ground"
Wooden boards. either plain or covered with
wax, were used long before the age of Homer
AT first the bare wood was engraven, with wood
en- style; the OVERLAPPING them was a subsequent
invention. The styles were of metal, ivory, or
bone, one end sharp for making the letters the
other end was fitted for erasng. hence our word
style, used metaphoricaly, to signify the choice
or arrangement of the words employed by an au-
thor to express his thoughts. These boards or
thin slices of wood were formed into book by
means of leather straps fastened to the back of
the leaves, and from its resemblance 10 a log
sawn into boards was called coder from which |
our word code is derived. Such were the books
used by the Roman boys at school. The richer
classes used thin pieces of ivory, instead of
wood.
Pieces Of writing on linen cloth have been found
in the Egyptian mummies. In my wandcrngs
as 'loiir' printer found myself, ten years ago
this winter, striking off 5000 copies of the
Golden Bible in the employment Of the Nor
mon prophet In the attck of the temple, was
an Egyptian mummy purchased ola struggling
exhibitor, with something in a glass case said TO
be an Egyptian manuscript, found enclosed in
the winding sheet of the mummy. Smith pre-
tended he could decypher the inscription, but said
his people and the world were not yet prepared
/ for the revelation. But his untmelv death has
forever deprived antiquarians Of the light which
the penetration ola 10 Smith might have cast on
Egyptian lore.
! The poems Of Homer were written upon the
ntcstines of a serpent, in letters Of Gold this
roll was 20 feet long, and was destroyed by fire
in the 10th century, with the library Of Conslan-
tinople.
Leather prepared in the present manner. seems
to have been often used by the Jews on which TO
write the sacred Scriptures. One copy Of the
.pentateuch, written in Hebrew characters, &C.
cupied 81 skins.
Parchment is mentioned by Josophus and 9th
er ancient writers as having been known long
before the age Of tic Ptolomies. Some have
supposed that the book OF the law Of Moses must
have been written on parchment, or it could not
have lasted so many ages as it did. Most OF
the ancient manuscripts now eXtant are written
on parchment. Parchment Of good quality was
often very scarce. About the year 1920 one
Martin Hugh, being appointed by a convent 10
write copy of the Bible for their library, could
procure no parchment for this purpose in Eng
land Not paper" enough in England 700 years
ago for single copy of the bible
We come now to paper. Its history reaches
back and is lost, with that of letters, and most
other inventions, in the chaos Of fable and unccr
tainty. The Chinese have used it from time
lmmemorlal. 1t was common among the MeXi
cans at the time Of the discovery Of America
and it is probable that it was made by the an
ciept Egyptians They were celebrated fol
their fine linen, and some authors think they
made paper from linen long before the discovery
of the papyrus. But so contradictory are the ac
counts Of the invention of paper that l am quite
at loss to determine which is the most probable
Some books say that paper, from the Egyptian
, papyrus was not made until the time of Alex
, ander the great others state that it was known
at the time that Joseph was carried into Egyp
as a slave.
J. The Papyrus is species of Rush which
+. grows in Egypt TO the height Of several feet
The stem or body was split in two, and the thin
f scaly pellicles, Of which it consisted, were pulled
or stripped off with the point of needle or knife
As the pellicles were taken off they were exten
!, ded on a table-then another layer was place.
over the first, transversely, so that the fibre
made right angles. They We're then wet an
sheets were beat with mae, and rubbed an
I polished. Laborous as was this process of pa
, pcr-making, it was so important and lucrative {
, branch ofm archandiZc toAlexandria, That Firnas
r tyrant, who broke into that city in the midd
: of the third century. boastei that the manuac
: turc Of paper, alone, would support his army.
Cotton paper was introduced into Europe il
+ the 18th century, but did not become common
until the 18TH century. and about the middle o
the lith was nearly superseded by linen paper
: About 1891 paper was first made in England
g And, to my great surprise, found the oIowin!
statement in a book printed in England in so
i -"Our principal supply offne paper for printin!
h and writing, was from the continent, HOLLAND
# and France chiefly, till about one hundred year
n since. At that period q. G. 1928 abou0 I'VE
=, thirds only Of the paper used in England wa
: homemade Since have been engaged il
# the printing business, have heard so much salt
q about the superiority Of English paper, that lit
:, tie thought the British printers, less than l2t
: years ago depended on the French and Dutcl
: papcr-makcrs, for their best paper, as we nov
q do, to very small extent, however, for our fame,
n or very finest artlcles-on foreign manuiacto
If rieS.
n The first papcr-nll in this country was bull
- in Massachusetts in 1880.
If The instruments employed to write with b,
J. the ancens, Of course, varied according to thu
nature of the materials on which they wrote
= Stone, Wood and Metal required the wedge
s, chSel, &c. The bodkn or style, already des
c. cribed acted on wax and was also employed OF
IF bark and leaves TO mark out the characters whc
Re were afterwards painted. A species OF reed wa
o used on parchment and paper, rs we now u.s.
n pens. Persons of rank and fortune used cal
IS nut Of silver something like modern metali
D peas.
q The composition and color of Ink were vari
/ Gus. Black, red, purple and blue and also Sil
: yer and Gold inks were employed Titles, CAPT
# tails and emphatic words were often written II
If different colors from the rest of the book.
lr Previous TO the invention of the art of print
ID ing no method was practiced for multiplying
:. books except the slow process oIcopying. We
IS there were many books in existence, and thu
= business OF copying was regular and dlstinc
ii profession, requiring great experience and skill
IS In Greece, Rome, Alexandria, and other place.
before the Christian era, copyists were numer
N Gus and found full employment. individuals al
Nc so copied books for themselves. In Rome the
IN copyists were usually slaves who had received
d liberal education. The Romans of rank and con
a sequence seldom wrote their own letters. It i
n said that more than GOO persons, ut Paris alone
- subsis,ed by copying and illuminating manu-
tie scripts ut the time Faust appeared with his bi
in bles. and undersod these dexterous scrihes-
IS Faust sold his Bibles as manuscript, and the,
ID were bought rs such. Al first he sold them a
I'd 900 crowns each, the ordinary price of an ele