"Historic Paperhanging Techniques" is now available as a free download from the wallpaperscholar.com web site.
There has been little written on paperhanging technique. Most information is handed down or learned on the job. Trade magazines are helpful for learning about the workaday world of the historic paperhanger, but these did not begin until 1875 and are not widely available. Nevertheless, there's a considerable body of information out there if you know where to look: this essay helps you do just that.
This essay is 6,000 words and was written for the International Preservation Trades Workshop, Lancaster, PA, Aug. 2-6, 2011. It is dressed up with a fabulous postcard image of an early 20th century paperhanger gettin' down to business (supplied by master paperhanger friend Don Leetz of Wisconsin). Thanks, Don!
The essay brings in European sources like the interesting articles by Geert Wisse (Belgium), and Phillippe Fabry and Bernard Jacque (France). I only regret that the Commonwealth countries (Australia, New Zealand, Canada) were not addressed this time around. Surely they deserve further study. Wallpaper use was rampant in the 19th century and we see the same widespread use of hessian on plank walls, for just one example, in all of these countries, just as it was used in Hawaii, California and Texas.
Hard copies are available in a plastic binder, so let me know by email if these would find a good home in a library or other archive: info@wallpaperscholar.com
Download: Full Article
UPDATE: this article is now available on:
www.scribd.com/doc/63701733
