Bull's Head and Mermaid - The Bernstein Project - Österreichische ...

in the Iberian regions under Moorish rule, Arabian paper
and thus made according to Arabian methods. It used a
binding agent based on starch, which was good for countries
with hot and dry climates such as in Arabia, but less
suitable for more temperate and damper regions such as
central and northern Italy. Here the humidity encouraged
the starch’s fermentation and thus processes that led to the
paper’s disintegration, this to such an extent that for important
documents it remained essential to use parchment,
which though more expensive was more durable.
A further characteristic of Arabian paper was the method
of processing the rags, which was done by hand with
wooden pestles (similar to large clubs) in large stone mortars.
This limited production. Although it seems that hydraulic
machines were in fact used in Cordoba and Xativa,
as can be deduced from reports by Arabian chroniclers, it is
not possible to reconstruct their exact purpose.
In the second half of the thirteenth century, a “new”
type of paper appeared on the market, a paper that was
much different than the other papers; it had finer fibres, a
special texture, and it also absorbed ink better. The traders
who offered it at the market places of Foligno, Perugia, Florence
and Bologna came from Fabriano or were in contact
with traders from Fabriano. As is clear from various documents,
papermaking was already flourishing in this small
town in the borderlands at the foot of the Apennines in the
second half of the thirteenth century. Since paper from this
area was at that time already preferred both at home and
abroad, it thus seems that its quality must have been quite
high and therefore it is reasonable to assume that paper
production must have begun here many years earlier. The
exceptional popularity of Fabriano paper was the result of
three innovations distinguishing it from other products and
contributing to its great success:
First, the breaking down of the fabric fibres was no
longer done by hand, but mechanically with a machine
(called a pila a magli multipli) that had originally been used
for processing wool, also a common trade in Fabriano. This
machine, the so-called gualchiera (felt machine), which was
used for milling wool to process it into woollen fabric, was
modified and used for breaking down the linen and hemp
rags. This freed the workers of a lengthy and tiring task.
The quality of the final paper pulp was improved and it was
also possible to increase production.
A further difference was the binding agent, which in Fabriano
was made of animal gelatine, in contrast to substances
containing starch, which, as already mentioned,
were responsible for the rapid disintegration of Arabian paper.
It is unknown how this binding agent came into use,
but if one considers that in the early period, wool and paper
were processed and manufactured – possibly – at the
same place if at different times, it may have been a chance
discovery. Even if one accepts that this was simply an accident,
it is to the credit of the papermakers of Fabriano that
they recognized its advantage in papermaking and used it.
And the papermakers of Fabriano introduced a third
technical innovation, an innovation that at first glance was
not obvious, but from an economic viewpoint very important:
the watermark (filigrana, marca d’acqua), which identified
every single sheet of paper that they made.
A watermark is a sign (a letter, the outline of a figure,
etc.) (Ill. 4) that is in the paper and that on first sight is
Ill. 4
nearly imperceptible; if one looks at the sheet against a
light, however, the watermark can be seen very clearly. The
watermark is visible because of a very fine difference in the
paper’s thickness, this caused by a bent wire figure in the
shape of the desired watermark being attached to the
screen of the papermaking mould. When the papermaker
dips the mould into the pulpy mass in the vat and pulls it
up to form a piece of paper, the water drains off quickly
and the fibres remain on the screen. Quickly and skilfully
the papermaker spreads the fibres evenly over the whole
screen. As a result of the thickness of the figure’s wire, the
paper is thinner where it has been attached.
From the time papermakers put watermarks into each
piece of paper they made, the markets knew which paper
came from Fabriano. Since paper from Fabriano was of
such high quality, it became ever more popular and the watermarks
became not only a sign of origin, but also a mark
of quality. Already in the fourteenth century the great jurist
Bartolo da Sassoferrato was aware of this, and in his treatise
De insignis et armis mentioned it to introduce the concept
of exclusive rights to a trademark’s use.
Watermarks became the sign of the papermakers and the
paper mills. In some cases the papermakers were required
to incorporate watermarks by traders in order to guard
against forgery. Ludovico di Ambrogio, a trader from Fabriano,
carefully noted every sale of his wares in his registers;
in addition to the paper, he also noted the watermark of
not only his own production but also all that he bought or
sold:
“Today, 23 November 1365, we bought charte reali with
an axe (mannara), 2 bales; charta reale with a horse (cavallo),
2 bales; charte reali with a pinecone (pinnocchio), 3
bales; charte with a flower (fioretto), 3 bales; charte with a
pomegranate (melograno), 5 bales; round charte with a lily
(gillio), 5 bales; in sum 20 bales with a weight of 4000
pounds”. In these notes, reale indicates a paper format (a
charta is a sheet of paper), while mannara, cavallo, pinnocchio
etc. indicate the watermark. In his entries are found
references to approximately sixty different watermarks,
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