The age of the paperweight and its modern designation

Yes, there were times. Writers, poets and, of course, clerks, using goose feathers, created texts and even counted the number of signs. There was an epistolary genre, according to the canons of which the literary work was composed in the form of letters of characters to each other. Mail, by the way, too, was sent not over the Internet, it did a long way on different types of transport. And instead of air conditioners in the hot weather gave a cool draft. A light breeze could sweep a neatly folded stack of papers, and they scattered in disorder, and they were not easy to assemble. So they decided to press letters, applications, petitions and other documents with heavy objects, calling them a paperweight.

Bumagodav in French

In nineteenth-century Russia, a sign of good tone was communication in French. In Russian, many concepts sounded, in the opinion of the then aristocrats, somewhat rude. That's a load for pressing a stack of paper sheets called paperback was considered inappropriate. Where the "paperweight" sounds more elegant. In French, these two words are also written through a hyphen, and they are translated very simply: presse - it is a press, and papier is a paper.

First press for papers

To perform its functions this object must meet two conditions: to be heavy enough to keep sheets under intensive blowing, but also not so that its movement tires. The material did not matter, beautiful minerals approached, and low statuettes, in general, everything that somehow corresponded to the size. Here aesthetic qualities played a role, because few people will come to mind to bring to their workplace an ordinary cobblestone or brick. Especially rich nouveaux riches (it could not have occurred to a true aristocrat) showed bad taste, and pressed their shares-bond-reports with a gold bar or a bag of coins. In general, in those times when excess ink was removed from the paper by means of special very fine sand, everyone solved the problem of keeping the correspondence as he could.

Blotter and people

The real fashion for paperweight appeared after the invention of blotting paper. This happened to be the "discovery of the century" accidentally, in 1835, and the reason for it was the ordinary negligence of the worker from the paper mill, who forgot to add a glueing substrate to the solution. Further, the design idea worked in a completely unpredictable direction, the idea arose to combine the functions of pressing and blotting, which was realized in the sample, which became classical. The paper-weight with blotting paper on the semicircular platform was equipped with clamps for its fastening, and on top was a convenient handle. Over time, even arose the tradition, according to which, after signing an important treaty, it respectfully rolled the special workers approaching from behind. In the second half of the 20th century, these inconspicuous workers of the diplomatic front were called - "blotting people". They say it was not easy to get a job in such a responsible position.

Works of jewelry art

In the time of ink office work, paperweights were issued in millions of copies both in our country and abroad, but, like any household item, each element of a desktop device could be either standard or statutory, that is, emphasizing the importance of its owner. In this case, there is a complete analogy with such a prosaic thing as a pen. It was one thing she bought in an ordinary stationery store, and quite another - "Parker" or "Mont Blanc" with a gold pen, at the price of a clerk's annual income. Paper in the paperweight is attached in exactly the same way, but the finish and materials are very expensive, it sometimes uses precious stones and metals, and the manufacture is entrusted to the best jewelers.

Practical need in this stationery has disappeared with the advent of ballpoint pens. Ink was left in the arsenal of the presidents of countries and international corporations, signing treaties that determine the future of the planet. They and the paperweight in hand!