Forty Centuries of Ink Part 34

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 s.h.i.+eld, 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?"

--c.o.c.kER, A. D. 1650.

The oldest ink (Russian) doc.u.ments 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 doc.u.ments 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 coa.r.s.er 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 coa.r.s.e 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 s.p.a.ce, 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 bra.s.s 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 a.s.similate 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 pota.s.siurin. 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 bis.m.u.th. Infusions of Nutgalls. Brown.

Common starch. Iodine in alcohol. Purple.