Look closely at this photo. What do you see?
Imprinted into the paper is the faint image of a striding mythical animal with its tongue sticking out. This is a watermark.
When the paper for this book was made by hand, shreds of cloth would have been mashed up in water and a wire mesh frame lowered in and out of the mixture. With time and more processes, the fibres that attached to the wire mould would later become paper.
Do you notice the vertical and horizontal lines on the paper in the photo? These are called chain lines and laid lines, respectively, and they are evidence of the wire mesh frame that was used in the paper-making process. To create the watermark, a decorative piece of wire was attached to the frame.
Paper mills sometimes used watermarks as identifiers, like branding, or to distinguish characteristics of paper such as quality or batch.
Often, watermarks are disguised by text, so it was a nice surprise to be able to distinguish this one without the need for a special light or technology. If you want to learn more, the National Archives have an insightful blog post about ways of seeing watermarks.
Author Fontana, Giuseppe, active 1789, author.
Title La difesa dell’episcopato contro le moderne pretensioni di alcuni parrochi : che puo’ servire di risposta a molte operette uscite in questi ultimi tempi / del padre don Giuseppe Fontana abate della congregazione di San Bernardo.
Imprint Roma : Dalle Stampe Di Gioacchino Puccinelli, MDCCLXXXIX. [1789].
Descript. viii, 198 pages ; 21 cm (8vo)
NH
What are your thoughts about the above?