Oct 24, 2025 The Business of Books: Watermarks

Every page begins as a piece of paper, but not all paper is as plain as it seems.

When you lift a sheet toward the light, you might notice a shadowed emblem: a fleur-de-lys, a jester, or a delicate line of text woven into the fibers. These faint designs, called watermarks, are the quiet signatures of papermakers. They record the hands and histories behind the page itself, offering insight into where, when, and by whom the paper was made.

“The Papermaker” from Das Ständebuch (Book of Trades)
By Jost Amman & Hans Sachs
New York: Dover Publications, 1973
PT1762 E8 1973

Papermaking created the foundation for books by providing the very surface on which text and images could appear. Developed in China in the second century, papermaking spread westward, reaching Europe by the thirteenth century. Early papermakers used linen and hemp rags, beating them into pulp, pressing sheets, and often marking them with distinctive watermarks that identified their mills. The craft determined not only the availability of books but also their texture, strength, and longevity. By the nineteenth century, mechanization and the use of wood pulp revolutionized the process, making paper cheaper and more accessible, yet often less durable.

A watermark is created not with ink, but with wire. During the handmade papermaking process, a thin wire design was sewn onto the papermaker’s mould. When wet pulp settled across it, the area beneath the wire was pressed thinner, leaving a translucent image once the sheet dried. Invisible in ordinary light, the watermark emerged only when held up to a window or candle flame—proof of origin, quality, or pride of craftsmanship.

Below are four such examples from the Rare Books Collection, which reveal the artistry and diversity of this hidden paper tradition.

An Exposition of the Creed
John Pearson (1613-1686)
London: Printed for J. M. for John Williams, 1676
BT992 P3 1676

John Pearson was an English theologian and scholar. He served with the Cavaliers in the English Civil War, acting as a chaplain to George Goring’s forces. A critic of the Puritan party, Pearson published his celebrated Exposition of the Creed in 1659. This influential work provided a line-by-line analysis of the Apostles’ Creed, offering historical context, biblical references, and theological insights for both scholars and laypeople. Pearson dedicated the volume to his parishioners of St Clement’s, Eastcheap, to whom the substance of the work had been preached several years before. 

This fourth edition of John Pearson’s Exposition of the Creed bears the Foolscap watermark throughout. Named after a jester’s cap and bells, the Foolscap mark was commonly used on paper measuring about 8.5 × 13.5 inches from the fifteenth century onward. The earliest known example was made in Germany in 1479. The design became widespread among Dutch and English papermakers in the late seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and by 1674 “foolscap” had come to denote a specific paper size regardless of its watermark. 

Paradise Lost
John Milton (1608-1674)
London: By Miles Flesher, for Richard Bentley, 1688
PR3560 1688

First published in 1667, John Milton’s Paradise Lost is a narrative epic poem that retells the biblical story of the Fall of Man, detailing Satan’s rebellion, his expulsion from Heaven, and his subsequent temptation of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. The poem explores themes of free will, pride, love, and the conflict between good and evil, with Milton aiming to “justify the ways of God to men.” By 1688, when England was on the verge of the Whig revolution, Milton’s reputation had revived considerably. His supporters believed that his greatest poetic achievement merited this handsome, monumental edition. One of the earliest examples of subscription publishing, financed by Lord Somers, the present fourth edition of Paradise Lost was the first to be printed in folio format and is the first illustrated edition, distinguished by its large, clear type, ample margins, and high-quality paper. 

This fourth edition bears the Grapes watermark throughout, associated with Norman paper mills and typically found on larger sheets. The design shows a small, roughly symmetrical cluster of round grapes on a slightly curved stem, accompanied by partially legible words or names, likely identifying the papermaker and region of origin. 

Fables of Aesop, and Others
Aesop
Newcastle: Printed by E. Walker, for T. Bewick and Son…, 1818 
PA3855 E5 B38 1818

These fables are largely derived from Samuel Croxall’s Fables of Aesop and Others (1722). Of the 188 fables included in Thomas Bewick’s later edition, 182 appear in former. The volume is illustrated with wood engravings designed by Bewick. This copy corresponds to Roscoe’s Variant B of the first edition. To safeguard against the loss of copies from the printing house or warehouse, Bewick included a printed receipt in every copy of his 1818 Fables. Each receipt bore a sprig of seaweed printed in red from a copperplate overlaid on the wood engraving, a device unique to Bewick. He further authenticated the receipt with his own thumbprint, leaving no room for dispute. Today, these receipts are often missing; the University of Utah copy does not retain one. Fables of Aesop was produced late in Bewick’s life, following a period of illness. He designed the wood engravings himself, while his apprentices carried out the cutting under his supervision, with Bewick refining the work as needed. Watermarks and a cut on page xvi identify this as a royal octavo copy, though the leaves have been trimmed to demy size, still leaving ample margins. The volume is bound in newer full calf, styled after the period. 

A watermark bearing only the date 1817 appears throughout and belongs to a category known as dated watermarks, a practice widely used in European papermaking from the late eighteenth through the nineteenth century. Unlike decorative motifs, these marks served a practical purpose: they identified the year of manufacture. Dated watermarks allowed printers, publishers, and government offices to track paper stocks and production batches. In some regions, where paper was subject to duties or excise taxes, the inclusion of a date also provided evidence of when and where the sheet was produced, supporting accurate record-keeping and regulatory compliance. 

An account of the voyages undertaken by the order of His Present Majesty
John Hawkesworth (1715?-1773)
London: Printed for W. Strahan and T. Cadell, 1773
G420 H39 1773

This is the first official account of James Cook’s (1728-1779) landmark first voyage. Within the three-volume set are twenty-seven maps and charts, some of them folding, and twenty-four copper-engraved plates, seventeen of which are folding. Cook’s voyages stand among the greatest feats of exploration undertaken in any age. Although earlier explorers and navigators had traveled much of the world, their primitive methods of mapping meant that much of what they charted could not be found again. Moreover, because of the European political climate of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, governments often suppressed these early discoveries. The scientific importance of Cook’s venture was universally deemed important. So much so, for instance, that the many governments involved in the American Revolution all issued proclamations prohibiting their warships from molesting the expedition. On this, his first voyage, Cook sailed around Cape Horn and set course for Tahiti, where he observed the Transit of Venus. He then sailed south and west in search of a legendary southern continent which had been reported over a century earlier but had not been visited by Europeans since. This land mass turned out to be New Zealand, which Cook charted. On his return home he found and charted the east coast of Australia. Cook’s records of his voyages were great contributions to many scientific fields. Cook proved once and for all that there was no great southern continent and suggested the existence of Antarctic land in the southern ice ring, proven later in the nineteenth century. 

Watermarks representing the Arms of Strasbourg, a bend on a shield surmounted by a large fleur-de-lys, are characteristic of ‘Royal Paper’; paper of the largest standard size and always of high quality. In various forms, the ‘Strasbourg Lily’ occurs in Angoumois, Dutch and English papers in the later seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.

Beyond decoration, watermarks served as identifiers and safeguards, signaling a paper mill’s reputation, denoting grade, or even dating a book to a particular region or decade. For historians and bibliographers today, they act like fingerprints, revealing trade routes, tracing counterfeits, and uncovering lost connections between printers and papermakers.

Our latest exhibition, The Business of Books offers a comprehensive exploration of the production and trade of books from the Renaissance through the Industrial Revolution. The exhibition examines the intricate economic networks that underpinned the book industry and foregrounds the physical labor involved in papermaking, printing, binding, and design.  

To learn more about The Business of Books, visit the Special Collections Exhibition Gallery on Level 4 of the Marriott Library. 

(This exhibition is free and open to the public)