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Bibliographies - Watermarks
Catalogue of the world’s biggest collection of watermarks. It contains 95.000 samples from 1400 to 1700, kept in libraries in Germany and the European neighbour countries. Gerhard Piccard (1909-1989) gave his collection to the Hauptstaatsarchiv Stuttgart in 1951. A documentation that categorizes the different types of watermarks (tower, crown, flower etc) had been published in 17 volumes from 1961 to 1997. The whole collection has recently been digitalized.
Watermarks in incunabula printed in the Low Countries (WILC)
The dating of prints can be difficult if there are no colophons, printers’ devices or other hints. For example, no more than 800 of the 2000 or so 15th century prints on paper in The Netherlands are dated. Alongside type and other bibliographical evidence, paper research is one method of arriving at a dating within a range of years. Here the watermarks play a decisive role. The watermarks in the WILC database are reproduced with rubbings (as in WM I 00259) and electron radiography.
Digital Catalogue of Watermarks and Type Ornaments Used by William Stansby in the Printing of The Workes of Beniamin Jonson (London: 1616)
This project aims to create a model archive for the storage and circulation of material evidence concerning the printing industry in late Tudor and early Stuart London. It describes (with images) the main paper groups and the printers’ ornaments used for the Jonson folio editions.