Los Angeles herald., 1906-04-29
History Of WatorDarks

A facsimile of this, the earliest English print
ed book, was published as a tribute to his mem
ory by Vincent Higgins in 1859, and the paper
was made expressly for the purpose in exact rep
resentation of the original and containing the
p watermari. Another form of P was particu-
1arly characteristic of early Dutch papers, and
had reference to the pot in common use at the
time of their original manufacture, This letter
gave its name to the ''pot quartoes," which
were extremely popular in the sixteenth and
seventeenth centuries for printing editions OF
plays and pamphlets. The first edition of
Shakespeare printed by Isaac Jaggard and Ed
ward Blount in 1923, will. however, be found
to be mostly on paper bearing cap like a
Jockeys as a watermark, and the generals use OF
the term "cap" to various modern papers owes
it to marks of this kind.
The first English paper maker was John Tate,
who founded mill at Hertford at the close of
the fifteenth century. Tate made fine thin
paper, having for watermark eightpointed
star within double circle. Wynkin de Worde's
edition of "Bartholomus de Proprietatibus Re
rum was printed on Tate's paper in 1494.
White coarse paper was made by Sir John
Speilman, German. at hartford, in 1880, and
there the first English paper mills on large
scale were erected.
LATER WAlER MAIChS.
Till $780, however, when William LII passed
an act to encourage the home manufacture of
white paper, all the best paper for writing and
nrintinp was imported from Holland and France.
The official paper used by the government of
fees and House of Parliament and made in Hol-
land, during the reign of Charles |, was water
marked with the royal arms. story goes that
the most curious of all watermarks, FOOLS cap,
which is derived from the Italian 'fogilo capo,
a folio sized sheet, was ordered by the Rump
Parliament to be substituted for the royal arms
in the paper used for the journals of the House
of Commons.
As a matter of fact no paper marked found
its way into England before 1863, and the story
probably owes its origin to the topical illusions
which the royasts contrved to perpetrate in
the case of papers introduced from Holland dur
ing the Cromwellian regime. For example, in
1649 large hat to denote the broad brimmed
beaver worn by the Puritans; in 1861 four
crowns and in 1857 regal crown--all symbols
likely to be obnoxious to the ruling powers
were exhibited on many papers.
| Watermarks have proved themselves invalua-
BILE for safeguarding against the forgery of bank
notes. bills, stamps, etc, though the difficulty
experienced by the Bank OF England in evolv-
inc a mark defying imitation was very great
and was accompanied by the execution of forgers
innunerable. Many a will has been set aside
owing to false dates in watermarks, for, thanks
to watermarks, we are under no uncertainty re-
specting the date of the existence of the paper.
Ireland's celebrated Shakespearian forgeres
we're. however. perpetrated with sl1ilful recog-
milton of the watermark difficulty. At first he
was unacquainted with any watcrmark of Eliza
bethan times, so he carefully selected markless
sheets for his commencing efforts. Driven to
the production of MS, he set to work purchasing
old volumes for their fly leaves and hearing that
| +be sfiuo" was the prevalent watermark of the
reign Of Queen Elizabeth he selected such as
had the "jug' on being careful to mingle with
them a certain number of blank leaves, in order
that the production on sudden of so many
identical watermarks might. not arouse suspi-
cion.