A Pair on Paper : Two Essays on Paper History and Related Matters

Bird & Bull Press, North Hills, first edition, 1976. Limited edition of approximately 220 copies. Quarter Oasis leather and boards with cover illustrations, small 4to, 25 cm,. 70 pp, ills, (1 folded in pocket). From the descriptions in the prospectus of the two works : "[1]The great body of presently-known European ream wrappers are of the 18th century, with examples before mid-17th century being very uncommon. For reasons which are unclear, Italian ream wrappers are unknown, nor were they' known even to the eminent Italian paper his¬torian, A. F. Gasparinetti. The collection of printed wrappers which are shown and described here are important, therefore, not only because they are early - they are all of the latter half of the 16th century and the first half of the 17th - but because they are Italian, Milanese in origin. They are not ream wrappers in the strictest sense, but are quire wrappers, and all bear the sign oí the cartolaio or stationer who sold them. We are fortunate that this collection was acquired by Mr. Leonard Schlosser, who has been kind enough to permit their publication, and has also provided a well-researched description of these rarities of pa¬permaking history'. The collection consists of sixteen wrappers, all of which are reproduced in their original sizes…..[2] These ‘Adventures' describe a series of events which began in Paris in 1970 with the purchase of two assignats. Assignats were a form of paper currency issued by the French government in the late 18th century, and probably constituted the first use of stereotypes for large-scale currency printing. The place of the assignats in the history of papermaking and watermarks has been generally ignored, and their place in the history of printing and stereotyping has only been partly explored…Several illustrations are included, as are also a pair of assignats cut from an uncirculated sheet. Copy no. 202. Minor fingersoiling to rear board, otherwise Near Fine. Prospectus folded horizontally) laid in.