Paper and Watermarks

The manufacture of paper is one of the oldest artsknown to mankind and remains today basically one ofthe simplest arts. It is of interest to the stamp collectorprincipally because of the watermarks and some of thespecial papers used for making some nineteenth-centurypostage stamps. Presently "ordinary" paper with or with-out the watermark is used universally throughout theworld for making postage stamps.

Basically paper is made by reducing wood fiber to apulp and then spreading this pulp evenly on a surfaceto dry. Almost all modern paper is made from woodpulp to which rag or other fibers may, or may not, havebeen added. Straw of various kinds, papyrus and othervegetable fibers have also been used but today suchspecial papers are seldom used in the ordinary channelsof commerce.