An Unusual Position of Watermarks in an Italian Eighteenth-Century Paper

Transcription

1 An Unusual Position of Watermarks in an Italian Eighteenth-Century Paper Carlo Dumontet Much paper of the hand-press period contained a watermark of some sort. The term watermark is often used in a generic way, to indicate any mark visible on paper, whether a watermark proper or a countermark. In this note I shall use the term mark when it is not necessary to differentiate between the two. Historically, marks were placed on different areas of paper moulds and can therefore be seen on different areas of the paper. A very common pattern, up to the late eighteenth century, is to have the watermark in the middle of one half of the sheet and the countermark in the middle of the other half. But this arrangement is by no means universal. Apart from the large quantity of unwatermarked paper, marks can be found in the middle of the sheet (centremarks), in a corner (corner watermarks and corner countermarks) and, in the late hand-press period, also along one of the edges (edgemarks). In this bibliographical note I would like to discuss the unusual position of the marks on the leaves of two eighteenth-century Italian quartos held by the British Library: (1) Alessio, di Santa Maria. La virtu educata in corte, perfettionata nel chiostro (Torino: G.F. Mairesse e G. Radix, 1713). 4 o : a 8 B 2E 8 χ1. Shelfmark: 4867.e.11. (2) Guevarre, Andrea. La mendicitá sbandita (Torino: Gianfrancesco Mairesse e Giovanni Radix, 1717). 4 o : a 4 A 2A 4 2B 2 ; 2 A R 4 S 6 ; 2 a g 4. Shelfmark: 1484.d.27. The books are in contemporary bindings and the trimmed leaves (with chainlines running horizontally) measure 21.5 x 16 cm and 21 x 15.5 cm respectively, from which it can be inferred that they were printed on a variety of rezzuta paper (foolscap family) which measured c. 31 x 44 cm. It is very difficult to see the marks distinctly, even with a light sheet. One mark is a large wreath (c. 12 x c. 9.5 cm) consisting of a branch bent to form an oval with ends crossing at the bottom, leaves attached to the sides, a shield(?) in the middle and two flowers (tulips?) at the top. The other mark is a bunch of grapes (c. 9.5 x c. 4 cm) consisting of two distinctive designs: nine rows of grapes (four in a line at its widest point) in the bottom half, and a design in the top half (possibly a crown?). The first thing one notices, therefore, is that neither mark contains numbers or letters in the design, as often is the case in countermarks. Therefore it looks as if this batch of paper had two watermarks. Both marks are present in different stages of deterioration. The marks, oddly for a quarto, are visible in the middle of the leaf, at 90 degrees to the text, i.e. parallel to the chainlines which run horizontally, with their heads pointing towards the fore-edge margin and tails towards the gutter margin. La virtu educata in corte was printed on such paper entirely, while La mendicitá sbandita has gatherings F-I, L, N-P of the first alphabetical sequence printed on such paper, and the rest on paper with each mark (of different design from the ones discussed here) in the middle of one half of the sheet. 1

2 In La mendicitá sbandita, which is gathered in fours, the two marks are visible on two consecutive leaves of each gathering, i.e. either $1,2 or $3,4. La virtu educata in corte is gathered in eights, i.e. each gathering is made up of two quired sheets. Here the marks are present on $1,2 or $7,8 of the first (outer) sheet, and $3,4 or $5,6 of the second (inner) sheet. The reason why in each book the marks are found on different pairs of leaves is simple: when a sheet of paper was placed on the tympan of the printing press in order to achieve an impression, it could end up in any orientation. In our books the marks are always visible in the same vertical orientation, whether the right or wrong way round, i.e. with the head pointing towards the fore-edge margin. This physical evidence, therefore, points to the conclusion that each mark is located, in an upright position, in the middle of each half of the top half of the sheet (fig. 1 the designs are for reference only, and do not reproduce the originals). If one makes paper models with marks drawn in this arrangement, and then folds the paper twice to obtain a quarto gathering, it will be evident that the marks are visible upright with their heads pointing to the fore-edge margin, whatever the orientation of the sheet of paper. However, if the marks were positioned in the bottom half of the paper mould, they would appear on the book leaves with their heads pointing towards the gutter margin instead of the fore-edge margin. Although I have been unable to find these particular types of bunch of grapes and wreath designs in any watermark repertory, it is nevertheless probable that this paper was manufactured in Piedmont as Turin, their printing place, was its capital. This region, in fact, was historically rich in rags and water, and papermaking had been introduced there at an early date. I have failed to find another batch of paper so watermarked in all the twelve books published by Radix and available in London public collections. 1 Only an in-depth analysis of paper produced in Piedmont in the first half of the eighteenth century will reveal how common such placement of marks was. In conclusion, it is difficult to see why such paper was ever produced. It might be argued that some formats would benefit from the use of paper with certain watermark positions. Briquet, for example, quoted a 1562 ruling of the Town Council of Geneva requiring watermarks to be placed in the middle of the paper mould affin que la marque n empesche point l ouvrage de l impression [so that the mark does not impede the work of printing]. 2 Our Italian quarto books, therefore, would benefit from being printed on paper with marks in each half of the sheet, as these will fall in the gutter. However, our printers used, at least in part, paper with large marks which fall right in the middle of the leaves. Mairesse and Radix clearly had none of the scruples of their sixteenth-century Geneva colleagues. 3 1 British Library, Lambeth Palace, Senate House, Wellcome. 2 C. M. Briquet, Les Filigranes: Dictionnaire historique des marques du papier dès leur apparition vers 1282 jusqu en 1600 (Amsterdam, 1968), vol. i, p I am grateful to Dr Brian J. McMullin and Dr Dennis E. Rhodes for their helpful comments on the original version of this article and their improvements to it. I am also indebted to Dr Barry Taylor for his editorial comments and judgement. 2

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