| The Public Paperfolding History Project
x |
|||||||
| A Brief History of Practical Paperfolding in Europe and the Americas | |||||||
A: Books Information about his topic will be added in due course ********** B: Letterfolds 'De Viribus Quantitates' by Luca Pacioli, which dates to between 1496 and 1508, gives the first known descriptions of three methods of sealing a letter without wax, one of which seems to be the Chickenwire Letterfold, and another possibly a precursor of the Love Knot Paperfold. ********** C: Paper in cookery 'De Viribus Quantitates' by Luca Pacioli, which dates to between 1496 and 1508, explains how to cook in a pan made of folded paper. ********** D: Corporals A corporal is a cloth placed on the altar during mass, below the communion chalice. They were commony folded into thirds in both directions, as shown in Albrecht Dürer's engraving of the 'Mass of St Gregory' which dates from 1511.
Detail from Dürer's 'Mass of St Gregory' ********** E: Mathematical paperfolds i. Constructing a right angle 'De Viribus Quantitates' by Luca Pacioli, which dates to between 1496 and 1508, gives a method of constructing an accurate right angle, without using compasses, by folding a sheet of paper twice. ********** ii. Polyhedral models Information about his topic will be added in due course ********** iii. Globus Gores Information about his topic will be added in due course ********** F: Packets and Packaging The Grocer's Cone A Grocer’s Cone, presumably made from paper, although there is no text to confirm it, appears in the famous painting 'Children's Games' by Peter Bruegel the Elder which dates to 1560.
Detail from 'Children's Games' by Peter Bruegel the Elder ********** The Decameron Box A picture in an illustrated version of 'The Decameron' by Boccacio, now held in the library of Arsenal, in Paris, and dateable to 1432, depicts a white coloured box, which looks very much as though it is folded from paper. But is it? There is no text to tell us.
Detail from an illustration in 'The Decameron' by Boccacio ********** The magnificent Flemish illustrated manuscript known as The Hours of Catherine of Cleves, which dates to 1440, contains several illustrations of a sophisticated cut-and-fold box at the bottom of a page devoted to St Agatha. The pictures clearly show how the box is constructed but there is no textual evidence of the material used. In the 19th century this design also became popular as a recreational paperfold.
Pge devoted to St Agatha in 'The Hours of Catherine of Cleves' ********** In the early 1990's a large number of rodent-chewed Hexagonal Packets containing seeds 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. The example pictured below is dated 1803.
********** Simple paper boxes folded from oblongs had probably been used as cases for the cooking of cakes and pastries for many years, but the earliest definitive evidence for this practice does not appear until 1889, when a design for such a box, now usually known as the Patisserie Box, appeared in 'La Science Pratique' by Gaston Tissandier. The text notes that this box is 'employe par les confiseurs' (used by confectioners).
********** A simpler, rectangular design was explained in 'La Ensenanza del Trabajo Manuel' by Pedro de Alcántara García and Teodosio Leal y Quiroga, which was published in Madrid in 1903, where it is described as 'the bag so useful in pharmacies', now sometimes called the Apothecary's Packet. This design is also, probably, of much greater age.
********** G: Fireworks Information about his topic will be added in due course ********** H: Cartridges Information about his topic will be added in due course ********** I: Fold, slit and fold designs Designs of this type are made by first folding the paper, or card, in half, in zigzag fashion, or by rolling it up and flattening the roll, then cutting one or more slits into one or both edges. The paper is then opened out and folded again (though often this folding is only minimal) to produce the design. This method is used to make the little paper ruffles, or manchettes, that are used to decorate the ends of joints of meat, ‘bobeches’ or drip-catchers for candles, and, during the 19th century to make paper tinsel, decorative spills and Chevron design bookmarks as well. There is mention of paper ruffles on hams in the American periodical ‘Godey's Lady Book’ of December 1835 in a story entitled 'Mrs. Allington's Pic Nic'. The practice probably, however, goes much further back. 'The Girl's Own Book' by Lydia Marie Child, which was published by Clark Austin and Co in New York in 1833 contains a design made by rolling and slitting paper and the interesting information that 'In England, where they burn coal more than they do here, they fasten sheets of paper together and cut them in this way, to throw over the front of stoves during the summer season.'
These fold, slit and fold designs were, of course, made for purely practical purposes, but, like the paper cone, they eventually gave rise to folds that were used for recreational purposes as well. ********** J: Paperfolding in Political Propaganda Information about his topic will be added in due course ********** The earliest definitive evidence for the Workman's Hat, a folded paper hat developed from a waterbomb base which could easily be sized to fit any individual head, comes from an oil painting by John Hill which can be dated to around 1800. Such hats became popular, although not ubiquitous, for many trades during the 19th century in England.
Detail from 'Interior of the Carpenter's Shop at Forty Hill, Enfield' by John Hill ********** L: Paperfolding in Advertising Information about his topic will be added in due course ********** |
|||||||
