24                                Jane Rodgers Siegel

Fitushing

After sizing, writing paper was smoothed by rubbing or ham¬
mering. The paper would then be inspected, sorted, and pack¬
aged. The average product of a one-vat mill was two thousand
reams per year, but this varied widely, depending on local practices
and the size and quality of the paper being made.

Dlustration 7: In this print from Lalande, the women are bur¬
nishing the paper, inspecting, sorting, and packaging it. The man
(lower panel) is working at a glazing hammer, which was used in
many mills as an alternative to the labor-intensive hand burnishing.

Modem Hand Papermaking

A papermaking machine was invented in 1798 in France and
became commercially available in 1807. The economic advantages
of machine-made paper were so great that, by 1865, with the
exception of a mill operated by L. L. Brown from 1880 to 1907,
the last hand papermaking mill in the United States closed down.
The true revival of hand papermaking could not have occurred
without Dard Hunter (1883-1966), who left Elbert Hubbard's
Roycroft Shop for England, where he discovered handmade paper
and the surviving hand papermaking firms. Hunter learned to
make paper, and for a time operated a commercial hand paper-
making mill. As the author of seminal smdies in paper history—
several produced on his ovra paper with his own type at his own
press—Hunter was the inspiration for the next generation of
papermakers, who learned to make paper from his books and ben¬
efited from his advice.

The revitalization of hand papermaking in America in the
1960s and 1970s was a response to the need of artists and print-
makers for fine paper, and currently a number of artists are
exploring papermaking as a medium. Fine presses are taking
advantage of the myriad kinds of handmade paper available;
papermakers take up printing, and printers, papermaking.
Claire Van Vliet, proprietor of a private press, the Janus Press, for