The present work is founded upon Lectures recently delivered at the London Institution. The subject of Paper and Paper Making is one which has been at all times regarded with considerable interest, independently of that attention to it which commercial pursuits, of necessity, demand. The confidence, however, which originally prompted me to treat the subject, has, been in no slight degree, augmented by the advantage which I possess in the experience of my father, extending over a period of nearly

BY THE REV. GEORGE CROLY, LL. D. Having been present at the delivery of these Lectures, and feeling an interest in them, as the performance of my intelligent friend, and parishioner, Mr. Herring, I have added, at his request, a few preliminary observations, on the chief employment of paper in our day, namely, in Printing . It is a striking, and perhaps a significant, coincidence, that the art of making paper from linen fibre, and the art of printing, were discovered nearly at the same time, and

Introduction—Language—Origin of the Art of Writing—Various modes of recording events which preceded it—Materials upon which Men first Wrote—Stones, Bricks, Metals, Skins and Intestines of Animals, Tablets, Leaves, Bark, etc., etc.—The Egyptian Papyrus, from which Paper (so called) was first made—Process of Manufacture—Usual dimensions and extreme durability of Papyri—Modern Paper—Its general advantages to mankind—Supposed period of its Invention—The Introduction of Paper-making into Europe—Histo

On the Materials employed in the Formation of Paper—Method of Preparation—Processes of Comminution, Washing, Bleaching, etc. described—Paper-making by Hand—Paper-making Machine—Sizing Apparatus—Cutting-Machine, etc. explained—General Observations on what are termed Water-Marks—Manner of effecting the same—Importance frequently attached to them—Ireland’s Fabrication of the Shakspeare MSS.—Difficulty in procuring suitable Paper for the purpose—On the perfection to which Water-Marks have now attain

Anecdote of an over-curious enquirer—Its probable application to many readers—Paper Making, when straightforward, extremely simple, but ordinarily involving considerable chemical and practical skill—Brief review of artificial aids—Anecdotes of the deleterious effects of bleaching, and of imparting colour to the “stuff”—Ultramarine, its use and abuse—Manufactured Paper, its varieties and peculiarities—Excise Regulations—Paper Duty—Conclusion. Not long since I heard of a very inquisitive gentleman

The Author desires to state for the information of the Subscribers, that the delay which has arisen in the publication of this work has been altogether unavoidable; owing to the labour and difficulty of preparing such illustrations as were found to be necessary: many of the Specimens inserted having been produced from moulds which were manufactured expressly for the purpose....

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