Lost by Schoolgirls: A display of 17th century papercuts
nationaltrust.org.uk
nationaltrust.org.uk
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2111963/Schoolboys-...
> To put this in perspective, the average laborer making 6-12 pence a day could purchase up to 75 sheets of paper with a day’s wages.
"I'll have 17 pieces good sir"
We can order bulk from Amazon in the form of a package of 500 sheets for $10, but that paper is also higher and lower quality than the paper from 200 years ago. (Thinner, for one thing..).
Of course, buying 500 sheets is part of the whole change in our economy. Mass production enables part of that. It seems, to me, so very hard to equate wage to purchase this way, not just for paper but anything.
Even food, the massive change that pesticides, fertilizer, and crop rotation(huge!), safe canning, refrigeration, all these things mean that food costs have plummeted.
Even different strains of crops, storage methods, the last century has seen yields increase immensely from the same land.
The paper is beautiful (and often used for diplomas etc.), but expensive as heck. A single A4 costs about a dollar.
If the title claims that the paper was cut around 1674, I don't see the proofs anywhere. I see again a lack of critical thinking to spot available alternatives that are more logical, or a try to make the history more appealing.
This paper seems made by a machine, does not have any fungus on it and is white (after 350 years should be yellow). Chemical processes to keep the paper white and free of fungus attack weren't invented until 1850.
The floorboards may have 350 years, but the materials in those photos seem very 20th.
> Dr Isabella Rosner, an expert in early modern material culture, identified the paper cuttings at Sutton House which are almost identical to only two other known surviving examples, one of which is a decorative box dating to the 1680s held in a collection at Witney Antiques in Oxfordshire.
I was not able to find photos of the box in Google, but it look like they already have similar drawings of the same time.
Since mid nineteen century, most paper is acidic. It's cheaper but it slowly self destroy https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acidic_paper
Older parer and non acidic paper survives better.
The longer 350 years refers to previous 'almost identical' examples found elsewhere. (Yes 'nearly 350 years ago' is a misleading title.)
The National Trust took over the property before the war, discovering and preserving these artefacts during renovation in the 80s.
It seems perfectly plausible to me, they just needed to stay dry.