And before blotting-paper, what else was used instead? I keep hearing sand, but sand sounds extremely impractical and messy. But how was that used anyway?

When was blotting-paper, of the kind used by us - for soaking up excess writing-ink - actually invented and first used?

By the way, one of the old rocker blotters I bought has a piece of thick soft felt-like material beneath the blotter paper, which makes for a really nice feel as the rocker is pressed and rocked, and the contact between blotter and inked paper gives a little. This felt is about 1/8-inch thick, and looks like something an upholsterer would install beneath fabric.

I intend to find and install this felt in my other old and new rockers.

Fred

That's an interesting idea. Will you use thick-ish felt from a fabric store?

If I might ask - what is the purpose of this extra padding?

I found a heavy gage cardboard tube that was the core of a paper machine tape roll. It is about 4.5 inches long and has a diameter of about 1 inch. This tube is very strong, hollow and I fastened a strip of blotting paper around the outside of it. I put horizontally above the ink to be bloted and just roll it lengthwise downward over the line or signature I wish to blot. A cheap recycled roller blotter!

By the way, one of the old rocker blotters I bought has a piece of thick soft felt-like material beneath the blotter paper, which makes for a really nice feel as the rocker is pressed and rocked, and the contact between blotter and inked paper gives a little. This felt is about 1/8-inch thick, and looks like something an upholsterer would install beneath fabric.

I intend to find and install this felt in my other old and new rockers.

Fred

Used in a pot with a perforated top, like a salt-shaker. Shake sand (see below) over your newly written words, allow it to absorb/soak up access wet ink, possibly some drying time, then tip/brush sand off. Helps ink dry faster and possibly helps reduce spreading/feathering.

A range of substances were used apart from sand - powdered ash, powdered pumice or chalk or magnesia, powdered gum sandarac(h) possibly mixed with pumice or ground cuttlefish bone, powdered charcoal, or similar material.

The material was generally known as pounce, from pumice, and the container was often called a pounce-pot or pounce-box.

Pounce-bags, semi-permeable bags filled with similar material, are still used in some calligraphy today to also prepare a surface (absorb excess oils that can cause ink to spread), stop ink spread (feathering) through coarser surfaces and apparently to add texture to over-smooth surfaces.

Some sources:
Forty Centuries of Ink by David N. Carvalho (1848-1925) - you can read it online here
Wikipedia entry for Pounce (calligraphy)
Pounce pouches for calligraphy

Thanks so much for so completely answering this question. It is one I've asked many times. I have found pounce for sale on websites selling drafting supplies. It's nice to finally know what it is that I'm searching for and makes the hunt more fun. Thanks!



15th century, apparently.

Sources:

A history of paper page claims it was mentioned in 1465, mentions used remnants of it found in 15th century documents, and gives a wonderful quote from 1519: "Blotting is mentioned in W. Horman's Vulgaria, 1519 (p. 8o :
Blottyng papyr serveth to drye weete wryttynge, lest there be made blottis or blurris"
This information appears to have been extracted from the paper entry of the online encyclopaedia based on 1911 edition of the Encyclopaedia Brittanica.

The same information and quote also appears in the more informative entry for blotting paper (p. 55) in the Encyclopedia of Ephemera on Google Books.

Regards, Myles.

There's a scene in "Mrs. Brown" where the queen finished writing a letter then flips it and presses it against the desk blotter.

Kurt

My old blotter. It's on my desk, but i don't use it. I don't have any blotter paper, don't know a show who sells it actually. My ink i dry before i get to it anyway. I have it for ages, more than 30 years. Don't know where it came from. I got i from my parents but don't know where they got it, or how long they had it.

I just back from a vacation trip to Hawaii and saved some bar coasters with some logo on it. That worked ok as a blotter but not as absorbent as regular blotter paper.

Wanda

Is it just me, or does that look extremely heavy? What's the top made of? Marble?