Origami Heaven

A paperfolding paradise

The website of writer and paperfolding designer David Mitchell

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Seed Packets
 
This page attempts to record what is known about the origin and history of folded paper seed packets, of which there are various kinds. Please contact me if you know any of this information is incorrect or if you have any other information that should be added. Thank you.

Hexagonal Seed Packets

In the early 1990's a large number of rodent-chewed Hexagonal Seed Packets were discovered in the attic of The Woodlands, a historic estate in Philadelphia, once owned by the botanist William Hamilton (1735–1840). Some of these bear dates. Others are labelled in the handwriting of William Hamilton himself or his neighbour William Bartram (1739-1823), who was also a plant collector. The Seed Container pictured below is dated 1803.

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The first diagrams for this design that I know of occur in 'Spielbuch fur Knaben' by Hermann Wagner, which was published by Verlag von Otto Spamer in Leipzig in 1864, although the foreword is dated May 1863, which argues that the book was complete at that date. It is called 'Ein Papiertute' (a paper bag).

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The same design appears, using the same illustration, in 'Spielbuch fur Madchen' by Maria Leske (a pseudonym of Marina Krebs), which was published by Verlag von Otto Spamer in Leipzig in 1865.

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