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Paper and Printing

HE word Paper comes from the Latin papyrus, and Greek papyros, the designation of an Egyptian plant from whose reeds the earliest kind of writing material was obtained. Parchment is an Anglicized form of the French parchemin, from the Greek pergamenos, named after the ancient city of Pergamos, in Asia Minor, where the skins of goats were first prepared for writing upon at a time when Ptolemy prohibited the exportation of the papyrus from Egypt.

Hand-paper was originally so called from its watermark, which was that of a hand; Pot-Paper, of a pot; Post-paper, of a post-horn; Crown-paper, of a crown; and Foolscap, of a fool's head with the cap and bells. Nepaul-paper, better known, perhaps, under the name of India-paper, is made in the district of Nepaul, Northern India. Cap-paper is so designated because, prior to being used by grocers for wrapping up sugar and other commodities sold by weight, it is folded into a cap-like form. Among papers of a stiffer kind, that are chiefly intended for drawing upon, we have Elephant, so called from its large size (28 inches by 23), Cartridge-paper, originally manufactured for Paper and Printing. soldiers' cartridges, and Bristol-board, formerly made only at Bristol.