CURIOSA (INK AND OTHER WRITING MATERIALS).
ARTIFICIAL INK AND PAPER OWE THEIR INVENTION TO
THE WASP--PHoeNICIA, "LAND OF THE PURPLE-DYE"
--LINES, ADDRESSED TO THE PHoeNICIAN--OLDEST
EXISTING PIECE OF LITERARY COMPOSITION--WHERE
PAPYRUS STILL GROWS--DU CANGE'S LINES ON THE
STYLUS--MATERIALS USED TO PROMULGATE ANCIENT
LAWS OF GREECE--ANCIENT METHOD OF WRITING
WILLS--MATERIALS EMPLOYED IN ANCIENT HEBREW
ROLLS--ANTIQUITY OF EXISTING HEBREW WRITING
--OLDEST SPECIMEN OF GREEK WAX WRITING--
WOODEN TALLIES AS EMPLOYED IN ENGLAND--WHEN
WRITING IN GOLD CEASED--DATE OF THE FIRST DISCOVERY
OF GREEK PAPYRUS IN EGYPT--PERIODS TO
WHICH BELONG VARIOUS STYLES OF WRITING--ANECDOTE
AND POEM ABOUT THE FIRST GOLD PEN--INTERESTING
NOTES ABOUT PENS AND INK-HORNS--EMPLOYMENT
OF THE PEN AS A BADGE IN THE FOURTEENTH
CENTURY--SOME LINES BY COCKER--THE OLDEST
EXISTING WRITTEN DOCUMENTS OF RUSSIA--WHEN
SEALING WAX WAS FIRST EMPLOYED--PLINY'S
DESCRIPTION OF THE DIFFERENT KINDS OF PAPYRUS
PAPER--MODE OF PRESERVING THE ANCIENT PAPYRUS
ROLLS--SUGGESTIONS RESPECTING USES OF INK--
COMPARATIVE TABLE ABOUT COAL TAR AND ITS BY-
PRODUCTS--COMPOSITIONS OF SECRET INKS AND HOW
TO RENDER THEM VISIBLE--CHARACTER OF INK EMPLOYED
FOR MANY YEARS BY THE WASHINGTON PATENT
OFFICE--FACTS ELICITED BY HERAPATH IN THE UNROLLMENT
OF A MUMMY--LINES FROM SHAKESPEARE
AND PERSEUS--SEVENTEENTH CENTURY OBSERVATIONS
ABOUT SECRET INKS--CAUSE OF THE DESTRUCTION
OF MANY ANCIENT MSS.--METHODS TO BE EMPLOYED
IN THE RESTORATION OF SOME OLD INKS--
VARIATIONS IN THE MEANING OF WORDS--THE POUNCE
BOX PRECEDED BLOTTING PAPER--SOME OBSERVATIONS
ABOUT BLOTTING PAPER--ANECDOTE RELATING
TO DR. GALE--WHEN WAFERS WERE INTRODUCED--
PERSIAN ANECDOTE ABOUT THE DIVES--EPISODES
RESPECTING THE STYLUS--DESCRIPTION BY BELOE
OF ANCIENT PERSIC AND ARABIC MSS.--CITATION FROM
OLD BOSTON NEWSPAPER AND POEM--METHOD OF
COLLECTING RAGS IN 1807 AND SOME LINES ADDRESSED
TO THE LADIES--METHOD TO PHOTOGRAPH
COLORED INKS--POEM BY ISABELLE HOWE FISKE.
IN considering the important and kindred subjects
of "gall" ink and "pulp" paper, we are not to
forget the LITTLE things connected with their development
and which, indeed, made their invention
possible.
The gall-nut contains gallic and gallo-tannic acid,
and which acids, in conjunction with an iron salt,
forms the sole base of the best ink. This nut is
produced by the punctures made on the young buds of
branches of certain species of oak trees by the female
wasp. This same busy little insect was also the
first professional paper maker. She it was who taught
us not only the way to change dry wood into a suitable
pulp, the kind of size to be used, how to waterproof
and give the paper strength, but many more
marvelous details appertaining to the manufacture
of paper which in their ramifications have proved
of inestimable benefit and service to the human
race.
* * * * * * *
The Greek word "Phoenicia" means literally "the
land of the purple dye," and to the Phoenicians is
attributed the invention of the art of writing.
TO THE PHOENICIAN.
"Creator of celestial arts,
Thy painted word speaks to the eye;
To simple lines thy skill imparts
The glowing spirit's ecstasy."
The oldest piece of literary composition known in
the oldest book (roll) in existence is to be found in
the celebrated papyrus Prisse, now in the Louvre at
Paris. It consists of eighteen pieces in Egyptian
hieratic writing, ascribed to about the year B. C.
2500.
While the papyrus plant has almost vanished from
Egypt, it still grows in Nubia and Abyssinia. It is
related by the Arab traveler, Ibn-Haukal, that in the
tenth century, in the neighborhood of Palermo in
Sicily, the papyrus plant grew with luxuriance in the
Papirito, a stream to which it gave its name.
Du Cange, 1376, cites the following lines from a
French metrical romance, written about that time, to
show that waxen tablets continued to be occasionally
used till a late period:
"Some with antiquated style
In waxen tablets promptly write;
Others with finer pen, the while
Form letters lovelier to the sight."
The laws of Greece were promulgated by means of
MSS. on linen, as they were also in Rome, and in addition
to linen; cloth and silk were occasionally used.
Skins of various kinds of fish, and even the "intestines
of serpents" were employed as writing materials.
Zonaras states that the fire which took place
at Constantinople in the reign of Emperor Basiliscus
consumed, among other valuable remains of antiquity,
a copy of the Iliad and Odyssey, and some other ancient
poems, written in letters of gold upon material formed
of the intestines of a serpent. We are also informed
by Purcelli that monuments of much more modern
dates, the charter of Hugo and Lothaire, A. D. 933
(kings of Italy), preserved in the archives of Milan,
are written upon fish skins.
Constantine authorized his soldiers dying on the
field of battle to write their last will and testament with
the point of their sword on its sheath or on a shield.
B. C. 270. The Jewish elders, by order of the
high priest, carried a copy of the law to Ptolemy Philadelphus,
written in letters of gold upon skins, the
pieces of which were so artfully put together that the
joinings did not appear.
No monuments of Hebrew writing exist which are
not posterior even to the Christian era, with the exception
of those on the coins of the Maccabees, which
are in the ancient or what is termed the Samaritan
forms of the Hebrew letters. This coinage took place
about B. C. 144.
The most ancient specimen of Hebrew ink writing
extant is alleged to have been written A. D. 489.
It is a parchment roll which was found in a Kariat
synagogue in the Crimea. Another, brought from
Danganstan, if the superscription be genuine, has a
date corresponding with A. D. 580. The date of still
another of the celebrated Hebrew scriptural codices,
about which there is no dispute, is the Hilel codex
written at the end of the sixth century. Its name is
said to be derived from the fact that it was written at
Hila, a town built near the ruins of the ancient Babel;
some maintain, however, that it was named after the
man who wrote it.
One of the earliest specimens of Greek (wax) writing
is an inscription on a small wooden tablet now in
the British museum. It refers to a money transaction
of the thirty-first year of Ptolemy Philadelphus, B. C.
254.
In England the custom of using wooden tallies, inscribed
as well as notched in the public accounts, lasted
down to the nineteenth century.
Gold writing was a practice which died out in the
thirteenth century.
The first discovery of Greek papyri in Egypt took
place in the year 1778. It is of the (late of A. D.
191 and outside of Egypt and Herculaneum is the only
place in which the Greek papyri has ever been found.
Square capital ink writing in Latin of ancient date
is found on a few leaves of an MS. of Virgil, which is
attributed to the close of the fourth century, and the
first rustic MS. to which an approximate date can be
given, belongs to the close of the fifth century.
The most ancient uncial ink writing extant, belongs
to the fourth century, whilst the earliest mixed uncial
and miniscule writing pertains to the sixth century.
The oldest extant Irish MS. in the round Irish
hand is ascribed to the latter part of the seventh century,
while the earliest specimen of English writing
of any kind extant dates about the beginning of the
eighth century.
The gold pen won by Peter Bales in his trial of
skill with Johnson, during the reign of Queen Elizabeth,
if really made for use, is probably the first
modern example of such pens. Bales was employed
by Sir Francis Walsingham, and afterwards kept a
writing school at the upper end of the Old Bailey.
In 1595, when nearly fifty years old, he had a trial of
skill with one Daniel Johnson, by which he was the
winner of a golden pen, of a value of L20, which, in
the pride of his victory, he set up as his sign. Upon
this occasion John Davis made the following epigram
in his "Scourge of Folly:"
"The Hand and Golden Pen, Clophonion
Sets on his sign, to shew, O proud, poor soul,
Both where he wonnes, and how the same he won,
From writers fair, though he writ ever foul;
But by that Hand, that Pen so borne has been,
From place to Place, that for the last half Yeare,
It scarce a sen'night at a place is seen.
That Hand so plies the Pen, though ne'er the neare,
For when Men seek it, elsewhere it is sent,
Or there shut up as for the Plague or Rent,
Without which stay, it never still could stand,
Because the Pen is for a Running Hand."
The sign of the "Hand and Pen" was also used by
the Fleet street marriage-mongers, to denote "marriages
performed without imposition."
Robert More, a famous writing master, in 1696
lived in Castle street, near St. Paul's churchyard,
London, at the sign of the "Golden Pen."
The ink horn in Queen Elizabeth's time was in popular
use as a receptacle for holding writing ink, and
Petticoat lane in London was the great manufacturing
center for them. Bishops Gate in the same vicinity
was known as the "home of the scribblers."
Beginning with 1560 and for many years thereafter
the sign of the Five Ink Horns was appropriately
displayed by Haddon on the house in which he dwelt.
Away back in the time of King Edward III (1313-
1377), royalty was employing the pen, both quill and
gold, as badges. This is indicated in the accompanying
interesting list to be found in the Harlein library:
"King Edward the iii. gave a lyon in his proper
coulor, armed, azure, langue d'or. The oustrich
fether gold, the pen gold, and a faucon in his
proper coulor and the Sonne Rising.
"The Prince of Wales the ostrich fether pen and all arg.
"Henry, sonne of the Erl of Derby, first Duk
of Lancaster, gave the red rose uncrowned, and
his ancestors gave the Fox tayle in his prop. coulor
and the ostrich fether ar. the pen ermyn.
"The Ostrych fether silver, the pen gobone
sylver and azur, is the Duk of Somerset's bage.
"The ostrych fether silver and pen gold ys the
kinges.
"The ostrych fether pen and all sylver ys the
Prynces.
"The ostrych fether sylver, pen ermyn is the
Duke of Lancesters.
"The ostrych fether sylver and pen gobone is
the Duke of Somersets."
"What's great Goliath's spear, the sevenfold shield,
Scanderbeg's sword, to one who cannot wield
Such weapons? Or, what means a well cut quill,
In th' untaught hand of him that's void of skill?"
--COCKER, A. D. 1650.
The oldest ink (Russian) documents that exist in
Russia are two treaties with the Greek emperors, made
by Oleg, A. D. 912, and Igor, A. D. 943. Christianity,
introduced into Russia at the beginning of the eleventh
century by Vladimir the Great, brought with it many
words of Greek origin. Printing was introduced there
about the middle of the sixteenth century. The oldest
printed book which has been discovered is a Sclavonic
psalter, the date Kiev, 1551, two years after a press
was established in Moscow.
It is said that the skins of 300 sheep were used in
every copy of the first printed Bible. Hence the old
saying, "It takes a flock of sheep to write a book."
What would have been the comment in olden times,
to learn that it takes almost a forest of trees to print
the Sunday edition of some of our great newspapers?
Wax (shoemakers') was first employed on
documents A. D. 1213, although it was white wax which
was used to seal the magna charta, granted to the
English barons by King John, A. D. 1215. In 1445
red wax was much employed in England, but the earliest
specimen of red sealing wax extant is found on
a letter dated August 3, 1554.
Pliny enumerates and describes eight different
kinds of papyrus paper:
1. Charter hieratica--sacred paper, used only for
books on religion. From adulation of Augustus it
was also called charta augusta and charta livia.
2. Charta amphitheatrica--from the place where it
was fabricated.
3. Charta fannia--from Fannius, the manufacturer.
4. Charta saitica--from Sais in Egypt. This appears
to have been a coarser kind.
5. Charta toeniotica--from the place where made,
now Damietta. This was also of a less fine quality.
6. Charta claudia. This was an improvement of
the charta hieratica, which was too fine.
7. Charta emporitica. A coarse paper for parcels.
There was also a paper called macrocollum, which
was of a very large size.
Of all these, he says, the charta claudia was the best.
The ink-written rolls of papyrus were placed vertically
in a cylindrical box called capsula. It is very
evident that a great number of such volumes might
be comprised in this way within a small space, and
this may tend to explain the smallness of the rooms
which are considered to have been used for containing
the ancient libraries.
At Mentz, in Upper Germany, is a leaf of parchment
on which are fairly written twelve different kinds of
handwritings in six different inks also a variety of
miniatures and drawings curiously done with a pen
by one Theodore Schubiker, who was born without
hands and performed the work with his feet.
In Rome the very plate of brass on which the laws
of the ten tables are written is still to be seen.
Stylographic inks should not be used upon records,
most of them are aniline. The absence of solid matter,
which makes them desirable for the stylographic
pen, unfits them for records.
Never add water to ink. While an ink which has
water as its base might, under certain conditions bear
the addition of an amount equal to that lost by evaporation,
as a rule the ink particles which have become
injured will not assimilate again.
One of the best methods to cleanse a steel pen after
use, is to stick it in a raw (white) potato.
Inks which are recommended as permanent, because
water will not remove them, while it does immediately
obliterate others, may not be permanent as against
time. These inks may be the best for monetary purposes,
but, owing to an excess of acid in them, may
be dangerous in time to the paper.
It is interesting, since coal tar has acquired so important
a position in the arts, to trace how its various
products successively rose in value. The prices in
Paris, as given by M. Parisal in 1861, are as follows:
Coal,.................................. 1/4 c. per lb.
Coal tar,.............................. 3/4 " "
Heavy coal oil,.............. 2 1/2 a 3 3/4 " "
Light coal oil,............. 6 3/4 a 10 1 /4 " "
Benzole,........................ 10 1/2 a 13 " "
Crude nitro-benzole,................ 57 a 61 " "
Rectified nitro-benzole,............ 82 a 96 " "
Ordinary aniline,............. $3.27 a $4.90 " "
Liquid aniline violet,.............. 28 a 41 " "
Carmine aniline violet,....... 32 c. a $1.92 "
Pure aniline violet, in powder,.... $245 a $326.88 "
The last is equal to the price of gold. And so, says
M. Parisal, from coal, carried to its tenth power, we
have gold; the diamond is to come.
Modern chemistry offers many formulas and
methods of rendering visible secret or sympathetic
inks. Writing made with any of the following solutions,
and permitted to dry, is invisible. Treatment
by the means cited will render them visible.
Solution. After treatment. Color produced.
Acetate of lead. Sulphuret of potassiurin. Brown.
Gold in nitrohydroChloric acid. Tin in same acid. Purple.
Nut-galls. Sulphate of iron. Black.
Dilute sulphuric acid. Heat. Black.
Cobalt in dilute Heat. Green.
nitrohydrochloric acid.
Lemon juice. Heat. Brown.
Oxide of copper in Heat. Blue.
acetic acid and salt
Nitrate of bismuth. Infusions of Nutgalls. Brown.
Common starch. Iodine in alcohol. Purple.
Colorless iodine. Chloride of lime. Brown.
Phenolphtalin. Alkaline solution. Red.
Vanadium. Pyrogallic acid. Purple.
The Patent Office at Washington, D. C., for more
than forty years employed a violet copying ink made
of logwood. From 1853 until 1878 it was furnished
by the Antoines of Paris, of the brand termed
"Imperial;" in later years it was supplied by the Fabers.
Since 1896 they have been using "combined" writing
fluids.
The following facts elicited by the unrollment of a
mummy at Bristol, England, in 1853, were communicated
to the Philosophical Magazine, by Dr. Herapath.
He says:
"On three of the bandages were hieroglyphical
characters of a dark color, as well defined as if
written with a modern pen; where the marking fluid
had flowed more copiously than the characters required,
the texture of the cloth had become decomposed
and small holes had resulted. I have no
doubt that the bandages were genuine, and had
not been disturbed or unfolded; the color of the
marks were so similar to those of the present
'marking ink,' that I was induced to try if they
were produced by silver. With the blowpipe I
immediately obtained a button of that metal; the
fibre of the linen I proved by the microscope, and
by chemical reagents, to be linen; it is therefore
certain that the ancient Egyptians were acquainted
with the means of dissolving silver, and of applying
it as a permanent ink; but what was their solvent?
I know of none that would act on the
metal and decompose flax fibre but nitric acid,
which we have been told was unknown until discovered
by the alchemist in the thirteenth century,
which was about 2200 years after the date of this
mummy, according as its superscription was read.
"The Yellow color of the fine linen cloths which
had not been stained by the embalming materials,
I found to be the natural coloring matter of the
flax; they therefore did not, if we judge from this
specimen, practice bleaching. There were, in some
of the bandages near the selvage, some twenty or
thirty blue threads; these were dyed by indigo,
but the tint was not so deep nor so equal as the
work of the modern dyers; the color had been
given it in the skein.
"One of the outer bandages was of a reddish
color, which dye I found to be vegetable, but could
not individualize it; Mr. T. J. Herapath analyzed
it for tin and alumina, but could not find any.
The face and internal surfaces of the orbits had
been painted white, which pigment I ascertained
to be finely powdered chalk."
"I am a scribbled form, drawn with a Pen
Upon a Parchment, and against this fire
Do I shrink up."
--KING JOHN, v, 7.
"With much ado, his Book before him laid,
And Parchment with the smoother side display'd;
He takes the Papers, lays 'em down agen,
And with unwilling fingers tries his Pen;
Some peevish quarrel straight he tries to pick,
His Quill writes double, or his Ink's too thick;
Infuse more Water; now 'tis grown too thin,
It sinks, nor can the characters be seen."
--Persius, translated by Dryden.
INKS CALLED SYMPATHETICAL (Seventeenth Century).
"These operations are liquors of a different nature,
which do destroy one another; the first is an infusion
of quick-lime and orpin; the second a water turn'd
black by means of burned cork; and the third is a
vinegar impregnated with saturn.
"Take an ounce of quick-lime, and half an ounce of
orpin, powder and mix them, put your mixture into
a matrass, and pour upon it five or six ounces of water,
that the water may be three fingers breadth above
the powder, stop your matrass with cork, wax, and a
bladder; set it in digestion in a mild sand heat ten or
twelve hours, shaking the matrass from time to time,
then let it settle, the liquid becomes clear like common
water.
"Burn cork, and quench it in aqua vitae, then dissolve
it in a sufficient quantity of water, wherein you
shall have melted a little gumm arabick, in order to
make an ink as black as common ink. You must
separate the cork that can't dissolve, and if the ink be
not black enough, add more cork as before.
"Get the impregnation of saturn made with vinegar,
distilled as I have shewn before, or else dissolve
so much salt of saturn as a quantity of water
is able to receive: write on paper with a new
pen dipt in this liquor, take notice of the place
where you writ, and let it dry, nothing at all will
appear.
"Write upon the invisible writing with the ink
made of burnt cork, and let it dry, that which you
have writ will appear as if it had been done with common
ink.
"Dip a little cotton in the first liquor made of lime
and orpin, but the liquor must be first settled and
clear; rub the place you writ upon with this cotton
and that which appeared will presently disappear, and
that which was not seen will appear.
ANOTHER EXPERIMENT.
Take a book four fingers breadth in bigness, or
bigger if you will: write on the first leaf with your
impregnation of saturn, or else put a paper that you
have writ upon between the leaves; turn to t' other
side of the Book, and having observed as near as may
be the opposite place to your writing, rub the last leaf
of the book with cotton dipt in liquor made of quick-
lime and orpin, nay and leave the cotton on the place
clap a folded paper presently upon it, and shutting
the book quickly, strike upon it with your hand four
or five good strokes; then turn the book, and clap it
into a press for half a quarter of an hour; take it out
and open it, you'll find the place appear black, where
you had writ with the invisible ink. The same thing
might be done through a wall, if you could provide
something to lay on both sides, that might hinder the
evaporation of the spirits.
REMARKS.
"These operations are indeed of no use, but because
they are somewhat surprizing, I hope the curious will
not take it ill, that I make this small digression.
"It is a hard matter to explicate well the effects I
have now related, nevertheless I shall endeavour to
illustrate them a little, without having recourse to
sympathy and antipathy, which are general terms, and
do not explicate nothing at all; but before I begin, we
must remark several things.
"The first is, that it is an essential point to quench
the coal of cork in aqua vitae, that the visible ink may
become black with it.
"Secondly, that the blackness of this ink does
proceed from the fuliginosity or sooty part of the coal
of the cork which is exceeding porous and light, and
that this fuliginosity is nothing but an oil very much
rarefied.
"Thirdly, that the impregnation of saturn, which
makes the invisible ink, is only a lead dissolved, and
held up imperceptibly in an acid liquor, as I have said,
when I spoke of this metal.
"Fourthly, that the first of these liquors in a mixture
of the alkali and igneous parts of quick-lime with
the sulphureous substance of arsenick; for the orpin
is a sort of arsenick, as I said before.
"All this being granted, as no body can reasonably
think otherwise, I now affirm, that the reason why the
visible ink does disappear, when the defacing liquor is
rubbed upon it, is that this liquor consisting of an
alkali salt, and parts that are oily and penetrating,
this mixture does make a kind of soap, which is able
to dissolve any fuliginous substance, such as burnt
cork, especially when it has been already rarefied and
disposed for dissolution by aqua vitae, after the same
manner as common soap, which is compounded of oil,
and an alkali salt, is able to take away any spots made
by grease.
"But it may be demanded, why after the dissolution
the blackness does disappear.
"I answer, that the fuliginous parts have been so
divided, and locked up in the sulphureous alkali of
the liquor, that they are become invisible, and we see
every day that very exact solutions do render the thing
dissolved imperceptible, and without colour.
"The little alkali salt which is in the burnt cork
may also the better serve to joyn with the alkali of
the quick-lime, and to help the dissolution.
"As for the invisible ink, it is easy to apprehend
how that appears black, when the same liquor, which
serves to deface the other, is used upon it. For whereas
the impregnation of saturn is only a lead suspended by
the edges, of the acid liquor, this lead must needs revive,
and resume its black colour, when that which held it
rarefied is entirely destroyed; so the alkali of quick-
lime being filled with the sulphurs of arsenick becomes
very proper to break and destroy the acids, and to
agglutinate together the particles of lead.
It happens that the visible ink does disappear by
reason that the parts which did render it black have
been dissolved; and the invisible ink does also appear
because the dissolved parts have been revived.
"Quick-lime and, orpiment being mixed and digested
together in water, do yield a smell much like
that which happens when common sulphur is boiled in
a lixivium, of tartar. This here is the stronger, because
the sulphur of arsenick is loaded with certain salts
that make a stronger impression on the smell. Quick-
lime is an alkali that operates in this much like the
salt of tartar in the other operation; you must not
leave the matrass open, because the force of this
water doth consist in a volatile.
"The lime retains the more fixt part of the arsenick
and the sulphurs that come forth are so much the
more subtile, as they are separated from what did fix
them before, and this appears to be so, because the
sulphurs must of necessity pass through all the book to
make a writing of a clear and invisible liquor appear
black and visible: and to facilitate this penetration the
book is strook, and then turned about, because the spirit
or volatile sulphurs do always tend upwards; you must
likewise clap it into a press, that these sulphurs may
not be dispersed in the air. I have found, if that these
circumstances are not observed, the business fails.
Furthermore that which persuades me that the sulphurs
do pass through the book, and not take a circuit
to slip in by the sides, as many do imagine, is
that after the book is taken out of the press, all the
inside is found to be scented with the smell of this
liquor.
"There is one thing more to be observed, which is,
that the infusion of quick-lime and orpin be newly
made, because otherwise it will not have force enough
to penetrate. The three liquors should be made in
different places too; for if they should approach near
one another, they would be spoiled.
"This last effect does likewise proceed from the defacing
liquor; for because upon the digestion of quick-
lime and orpin, it is a thing impossible for some of the
particles will exalt, stop the vessel as close as you
will; the air impregnated with these little bodies does
mix with, and alter the inks, insomuch that the visible
ink does thereby become the less black, and the invisible
ink does also acquire a little blackness."
Priceless MSS. in immense number written in
periods between the third and thirteenth centuries
have been destroyed by modern scholars in experimentations
based on the false theory that the faded
inks on them, whether above or below other inks
(palimpsests), contained iron.
Sulphocyanide of potassium is highly esteemed as a
reagent for the restoration of writing, if iron is present.
Theoretically, it is one of the best for such a purpose
if employed with acetic acid. It causes, however, such
a decided contraction of parchment as to be utterly
useless, but for paper MSS. is excellent. The metallic
sulphides generally pronounced harmless, causes
the writing to soften and become illegible in a short
time. On the other hand, yellow prussiate of potash,
with acetic acid in successive operations is of great
service in treating the most perplexing palimpsests.
Ink which badly corrodes a steel pen need not
necessarily be condemned; it may contain just the qualities
which make it bind to the paper and render it
more durable.
Some inks which are fairly permanent against time
if not tampered with, can be removed with water.
This is true of the most lasting of inks,--the old
"Indian."
In ancient Latin MSS. the words fuco, fucosus
and fucus are found to be frequently employed. It
is interesting to note the variations in their meaning:
FUCO.--To color, paint or dye a red color.
FUCOSUS.--Colored, counterfeit, spurious, painted, etc.
FUCUS.--Rock lichen (orchil) red dye. Red or
purple color. The (reddish) juice with which bees
stop up the entrance to their hives. Bee glue.
FUCUS.--A drone.
In Japan the word "ink" possesses more than
one meaning Four hundred Inks--one degree of
sixty miles." (See Geographical Grammar, of 1737, page 3.)
"Say what you will Sir, but I know what I know;
That you beat me at the Mart, I have your hand to show;
If the skin were Parchment, and the blows you gave were Ink,
Your own Hand-writing would tell you what I think."
--Comedy of Errors, iii, 1.
The first book ever printed in Europe, to wit, a
copy of "Tully's Offices," is carefully preserved in Holland.
White's Latin-English Dictionary, 1872, distinguishes
the words Atramentum and Sutorium in their interpretations.
ATRAMENTUM.--The thing serving for making
black. A black liquid of any kind. A writing ink.
Shoemaker's black. Blue vitriol.
SUTORIUM.--Belonging to a shoemaker.
Before the employment of blotting paper a pounce-
box which contained either powdered gum sandarach
and ground cuttle-fish bones, or powdered charcoal, sand
and like materials was used by shaking it like a pepper-
box on freshly written manuscripts.
Blotting paper as first employed consisted of very
thin sheets and of a dark pink color, which fashion
changed to blue in later years.
Good blotting paper of the present time removes
fully two thirds of fresh ink when used on HARD
finished paper.
Blotting paper should not be used upon records.
Its use removes the body of the ink, leaving discoloration,
but nothing for penetration. In inks intended
for copying, the employment of blotting paper is
especially bad.
"Thou hast most traitorously corrupted the youth of
the realm in erecting a Grammar School; and
whereas, before, our forefathers had no other
books but the score and the tally, thou hast
caused printing to be used, and contrary to the
King, his crown and dignity, thou hast built a
paper mill."
--2 King Henry VI, iv, 5.
Mr. Knight relates a conversation between Dr. Gale
and a gentlemen from the West relative to the introduction
of some material into ink to prevent moulding.
Dr. Gale had astonished his friend by stating--
"will prevent the deposition of the ova of infusoria
animalcutae;" when it was suggested that he add
"and the sporadic growths of thallogenic cryptograms
and be fatal to the fungi."
The University of Pennsylvania claims to possess
the oldest piece of writing in the world and which is
on a fragment of a vase found at Nippur. It is an
inscription in picture writing supposed to have been
made 4,500 years before Christ.
Wafers were not introduced until the close of the
sixteenth century.
The Persians in ancient times, some 800 years
B. C., were in the habit of celebrating certain festivals
and it is related that in the month of December one
of their ceremonies was that of driving the Dives
(spirits) out of their houses.
For this purpose the Magi wrote certain words
with saffron on skins, papyrus or wood and then
smoked it over a fire. The spell thus prepared was
glued or nailed to the inside of the door, which was
painted red. The priest then took sand, which he
spread with a long knife, whilst he muttered certain
prayers and then throwing it on the floor the enchantment
was complete; and the Dives were supposed
immediately to vanish; or at least to be deprived of
all malignant influence.
Aristotle's work on the Constitution of Athens,
B. C. 340, or probably the copy made by Tyrannio,
was discovered transcribed underneath farm accounts
of land in the district of Hermopolis in Egypt in the
reign of Vespasian, A. D. 9 to 79.
In MSS. written before the invention of printing
and indeed for many years after, the title page if any,
will be found on the last page with the date.
"Let lawyers bawl and strain their throats,
'Tis I that must the lands convey,
And strip their clients to their coats,
Nay, give their very souls away!"
--DEAN SWIFT, "On ink."
"It is certain that in their treaties with the
European Greeks of Constantinople the Arabs
always stipulated for the delivery of a fixed number
of manuscripts. Their enthusiasm for Aristotle is
equally notorious; but it would be unjust to imagine
that, in adopting the Aristotelian method, together
with the astrology and alchemy of Persia,
and of the Jews of Mesopotamia and Arabia, they
were wholly devoid of originality."
The "Arabic" numerals which we now employ are
probably of Indian origin, having been brought by
Arab traders from the East and introduced by them
into Spain in the middle ages, whereas they spread
over Europe coming in use in England perhaps about
the eleventh century. But whether India invented
them or borrowed from Greek or other traders from
the West is unknown.
The ancient writing implement known as the stylus
was made of every conceivable material, sometimes
with the precious metals, but usually of iron, and on
occasion might be turned into formidable weapons.
It was with his stylus that Caesar stabbed Casca in the
arm, when attacked in the senate by his murderers;
and Caligula employed some person to put to death a
senator with a like instrument.
In the reign of Claudius women and boys were
searched to ascertain whether there were any styluses
in their pen cases. Stabbing with the pen, therefore,
is not merely a metaphorical expression.
Sir William Gore Ouseley, a famous diplomat and
savant, who was living at the beginning of the nineteenth
century, during his long residence in India
spent a fortune in the collection of ancient Persic and
Arabic MSS. In 1807 he permitted them to be examined
by Beloe, whose description of a few will bear
repeating:
"No. 1. A Koran, in the Cufi or Cufic character,
said to be written by Ali, the son-in-law of
Mahammed, the Arabian prophet. The substance
upon which this curious manuscript is written
appears to be a fine kind of asses' skin or vellum,
and the ink of a red, brownish colour. The ends
of verses are marked by large stars of gold. If
written by Ali, it must be nearly twelve hundred
years old, but at all events may be considered as
very ancient, many hundred years having elapsed
since the use of the Cufi character has given way
to the Neskh, Suls, etc., etc. This manuscript is
still in excellent preservation."
"No. 4. Beharistan, 'The Garden of Spring.'
A book on ethics and education, illustrated by interesting
anecdotes and narratives, written both in
verse and prose, in imitation of the Gulistan, or
'Rose garden' of Saadi, and like it divided into
eight chapters, composed by Nuruddin, Abdurrahman
Jami, ben Ahmed of the village of Jam, near
Herat. He was born A. H. 817 and died at the
age of 81 years (about A. D. 1492). As a grammarian,
theologist and poet he was unequalled, and
his compositious are as voluminous as they are
excellent. The enormous expense which people
have incurred to possess accurate copies of and to
adorn and embellish his works, is no small proof
of the great estimation in which they were held by
the literati of the East."
"This volume is a small folio, consisting of 134
pages, written in the most beautiful Nastilik
character, by the famous scribe Mohammed Hussein,
who, in consequence of his inimitable penmanship,
obtained the title of Zerin Kalm, or 'Pen of
Gold.' The leaves are of the softest Cashmirian
paper, and of such modest shades of green, blue,
brown, dove, and fawn colors, as never to offend
the eye by their glare, although richly powdered
with gold. The margins, which are broad, display
a great variety of chaste and beautiful delineations
in liquid gold, no two pages being alike. Some
are divided into compartments, others are in running
patterns, in all of which the illuminations
show the most correct, and at the same time fanciful
taste. Many are delineations of field sports,
which, though simple outlines of gold, are calculated
to afford the highest gratifications to the lover of
natural history, as well as the artist, from the
uncommon accuracy with which the forms of the
elephant, rhinoceros, buffalo, lion, tiger, leopard,
panther, lynx, and other Asiatic animals are portrayed.
It appears, by the names which are inserted
at the bottom of the pages, that several
artists were employed in the composition and
combination of these ornaments, one for the landscape,
another for the animals, and a third for the
human figures, all of whom have given proofs of
superior merit. It would take almost a month to
inspect all the excellencies of this rare manuscript;
for, although so richly ornamented in gold, the
chaste colors of the ground prevent any glaring
obtrusion on the eye, and oblige the examiner to
place it in a particular point of light to see the
exquisite and minute beauties of the delineations.
The paintings, which are meant to illustrate the
subject of the book, are done in colors, and in the
center of the leaves.
"On the back of the first page are the autographs
of the Emperors of Hindustan, Jehangir
and his son Shajehan."
"No. 5. 'A Diwan i Shahi.' A Diwan or Collection
Odes by Shahi,' transcribed by the famous
penman Mir Ali, in Bokar<a1., A. D. 1534. (A. H. 940.)
"The author of these poems, Mamlic Arnir
Shahi, the son of Malic Jemaluddin Firozkohi, a
nobleman of high rank and fortune as well as great
literary attainments, was born in Sebzwar, A. H.
786. He passed a part of his life at the courts of
Baisankar (the son of Shahrukh Mirza, and grandson
of Tamerlane) and of his son Abul Kasim
Baber, during which time he held appointments of
the highest trust and emolument, and was universally
caressed. But, taking offense at an expression
of Sultan Baber's, which he conceived reflected on
his father, he quitted the court in disgust, and
passed the remainder of his life in the cultivation
of the sister arts, poetry, painting, and music in
all of which he eminently excelled. He was also
unequalled in penmanship. At the age of seventy
years be died in Asterabad, during the reign of
Baber, A. H. 856, and was buried in the suburbs
of his native city, Sebzwar, in a mausoleum erected
by his ancestors.
"Mir Ali, who transcribed this book, was the
most excellent penman of his time. He was born
in the reign of Sultan Hussein Mirza Bahudur, the
son of Mansur, and great grandson of Omar Sheikh,
the second son of Tamerlane. He was a learned
man and good poet, and took the Takhulas (poetical
title) most appropriate to his greatest accomplishments,
of Al Cateb, or 'the Scribe.' He was the
pupil of Sultan Ali, but far exceeded his master in
calligraphy. An entire book written by him is
justly esteemed a great treasure in the East.
"On the back of the first page of this most
beautiful manuscript are the autographs of the
Emperors of Hindustan, Jehangir (the son of the
great Acber) and his son Shah Jehan; there is
also the seal of Aurangzeb, the son of Shah Jehun.
Jehangir dates the acquiring possession of this
treasure A. H. 1025, and Shah Jehun, A. H. 1037.
"A collection of mythological drawings (brought
from a fort in Bhutan, where they were taken as
plunder) exceedingly well coloured, and richly
illumined. Some of the deities resemble those of
the Tartars, delineated by the traveller Pallas;
others again are pure Hindu and many Chinese;
but the most frequent are the representations of
Baudh, exactly as depicted in the paintings and
temples at Ceylon. The religion of Bhutan and
Neipal seems to be like the local situation of those
countries, the link of connection between that of
the Hindus, with its different schisms, and that of
the Chinese with the Tartar superstructure.
"With this book of drawings are several rolls
of Bhutan Scripture, very well stamped by stereotype
blocks of wood. Some of the blocks accompanied
the drawings; they are sharply and neatly
cut in a kind of Sanscrit character, and are objects
of great curiosity, as, by the accounts of the natives,
this mode of printing has been in use for time immemorial."
"There are besides in Sir Gore Ouseley's collection
1,100 most beautiful books of Persian and
Indian paintings, portraits of the Emperors of
Hindustan from Sultan Baber down to Bahudur
Shah, finely colored drawings of natural history,
and curious designs of fancy, with specimens of
fine penmanship in the different kinds of Arabic
and Persian characters. Several Sanscrit manuscripts,
highly ornamented and richly illumined,
some of them written in letters of gold and silver
on a black ground. Many of them illustrated with
the neatest miniature paintings of the Hindu gods
and saints. Two Korans, the letters entirely of
gold, with the vowel points in black. The two
versions of Pilpais or Bedpai's fables, by Hussein
Vaiz and Abulfazl, illustrated with upwards of 700
highly finished miniatures; the best historical
works in the Persian language, finely written, and
in high preservation."
The high regard with which the writers of MSS. in
ancient Persia were viewed may be learned among
other things from the following anecdote:
One of the most eminent among them was in his
walks solicited by a beggar for alms. "Money," he
replied, "I have none," but taking his pen and ink
from his girdle, which are the insignia of the profession
(without which they never went abroad), he took
a piece of paper, and wrote some word or other upon
it. The poor man received it with gratitude, and sold
it to the first wealthy person he met for a golden
mohur, in value about $2.50.
"Is not this a lamentable thing, that of the skin of
an innocent lamb should be made Parchment?
that Parchment being scribbled o'er should
undo a man?"
--2 King Henry VI, iv, 2.
The Boston News Letter, 1769, announces:
"The belleart will go through Boston before the
end of next month, to collect rags for the paper
mill at Milton, when all people that will encourage
the paper manufactory may dispose of them."
"Rags are as beauties, which concealed lie,
But when in paper how it charms the eye;
Pray save your rags, new beauties it discover,
For paper truly every one's a lover:
By the pen and press such knowledge is displayed,
As wouldn't exist, if paper was not made.
Wisdom of things, mysterious, divine,
Illustriously doth on paper shine."
Gen. Walter Martin, proprietor of the township of
Martinsburg, Lewis county, N. Y., erected a paper-mill,
which was run by John Clark & Co. This was
in 1807. They gave notice that rags would be received
at the principal stores in Upper Canada and
the Black river country, which (like many of the
advertisements of the early papermakers, both in
England and America), was accompanied by a poetic
address to the ladies, one stanza of which ran thus:
Sweet ladies pray be not offended,
Nor mind the jests of sneering wags;
No harm, believe us, is intended,
When humbly we request your rags."
The employment of complementary color screens
has made it possible to photograph colors which formerly
indicated no contrast with white back grounds
in the negative and later in the finished picture.
This discovery has destroyed the value of "safety"
papers, based on complete tints or possessing colored
lines or words.
"IN MANUSCRIPT.
"The rain storm wields a noisy pen
Adown the pane,
Wet splashes leaving, blots of strange white ink,
Blunders of rain.
"And yet no poems of ecstatic men,
Olympic faced,
Could be as wonderful as these, I think,
In cipher traced."
--ISABELLE HOWE FISKE.