Ream wrapper
Ream wrappers are sheets of paper used for packaging reams of paper.[1] As most historical ream wrappers from Europe and America were printed with a pictorial label, they are generally classified as graphic ephemera in museum and special collections.[1] The oldest extant ream wrapper labels are printed from woodcuts.[2] In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, labels were also produced via engraving on wood, copper, and steel.[2][3]
In traditional paper mills, apprentices produced paper for ream wrappers at the end of the day, as it was not necessary for this paper to have an even consistency or color.[4] Pulp for ream wrapper paper was made with dirty, worn, or colored rags unsuitable for the making of finer paper, as well as with waste paper scraps and cuttings.[2] Occasionally, labels were printed on small pieces of fine paper, which were then affixed to the rougher packaging paper.[4] While ream wrappers were meant to be discarded, they were sometimes repurposed as scrap paper, covers for homemade account or recipe books, or as end-paper in case-bound books.[4][5][6]
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Ream wrappers may be used to identify the location, layout, and scale of historical paper mills.[7] However, they have not been studied as extensively as watermarks because extant ream wrappers are less common.[8]
References
[edit]- 1 2 "Ream Wrappers | American Antiquarian Society". www.americanantiquarian.org. Retrieved 2026-08-24.
- 1 2 3 Voorn, Henk (1969). Old Ream Wrappers: An Essay on Early Ream Wrappers of Antiquarian Interest. North Hills, PA: Bird & Bull Press. p. 23.
- ↑ Pomeroy, Jane R. (2005). Alexander Anderson 1775-1870: Wood Engraver and Illustrator: an Annotated Bibliography. New Castle: Oak Knoll Press. p. 88. ISBN 978-1-58456-162-0.
- 1 2 3 Hunter, Dard (1950). Papermaking by Hand in America. Chillicothe, Ohio: Mountain House Press. pp. 201–202.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link) - ↑ "An Unexpected Discovery: Early Modern Recycling". Merton College, Oxford.
- ↑ on, Margaret C. Maurer (2026-05-13). "Recipes and Recycling: A Dutch Ream Wrapper in an English Recipe Book". Unique at Penn. Retrieved 2026-08-24.
- ↑ Bidwell, John (2013). American paper mills, 1690-1832: a directory of the paper trade, with notes on products, watermarks, distribution methods, and manufacturing techniques. Hanover, N.H. Worcester, Mass: Dartmouth College Press In association with the American Antiquarian Society. pp. xl. ISBN 978-1-58465-964-8.
- ↑ Morris, Henry and Leonard B. Schlosser (1976). A Pair on Paper: Two Essays on Paper History and Related Matters. North Hills, Pennsylvania: Bird & Bull Press. pp. 44–45.