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Last updated 23/2/2024

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Letter written by Guillermo Pen, 1757
 
In a letter sent home to his mother from his school on the Isla Real de Leon, dated 10th July 1757, schoolboy Guillermo Pen wrote 'Con esta estratagema les hago callar; y despues para hacerme amigo de ellas, a unos les hago cometas, a otros barcas, navios, pajaros, y otras muchos cosas, todo de papel.' (With this ploy I silence them; and then to make friends with them, I make kites for some, for other boats, ships, birds, and many other things, all of paper.) His letter can be found in 'Entretenimiento de Los Ninos' by Monsieur Rochon, published in Madrid in both Spanish and French in 1779.

Without better descriptions or illustrations, we cannot unfortunately know whether the 'boats, ships and birds' were designs of Guillermo Pen's own devising, or traditional paperfolds such as the Paper Boat or the Cocotte / Pajarita.

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