Dutch Gilt antique brocade paper ~ A5 sheets

It is difficult to obtain full history of the paper on sale here, since the process of securing real gold leaf to paper, which was lost some centuries ago, has now been successfully rediscovered. The starting point for this paper is in a letterpress-printer's workshop some three hundred years ago. Sheets that were badly printed, or otherwise left over, were preserved in the stores, for some reason. They were spared from being used as firelighters, or butchers' wrapping paper, because of their substantial, recognized, quality.

More recently the hoard of old paper has been discovered. On this sheet a broad weave of muted watercolour tints has been added . Then an intricate pattern of special adhesive (probably mainly white of egg) has been applied, and gold leaf stuck down. Finally the gold leaf is rubbed away from the non-sticky places, and the remainder well burnished down.

We do not hold a great stock of this paper, nor can we guarantee any more supply. Certainly a repeat of this design is unlikely. We are pricing it by the A5 piece, although we will gladly respond to other requests insofar as we are able. We shall only cut our larger piece down as parts of it are sold. It is effectively two A4 sheets, or one A3 folded ~ as to be stitched. For that reason we have not provided an actual size photograph of an A5 sheet. Nor can we offer any particular part of the pattern, although we will avoid the heavy crease at the centre of the folio.