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The Watermark: How Paper Tells Its Own Story

The Watermark: How Paper Tells Its Own Story

Exhibition

The Watermark: How Paper Tells Its Own Story

Museum of Book and Printing of Ukraine29 July 2026 — 11 March 2027Музей книги і друкарства України

A mill's mark visible only against the light. It dates the sheet more precisely than the text on it, and does not lie, because it was not made for the reader.

Directions

On display

Exhibits

10 of 20

Exhibition news⁵

Paper Dates More Precisely Than Text

A watermark does not lie, because it was not made for the reader.

The Watermark Is Always in One Half of the Sheet

The mark went on one of the two moulds, so in a book it appears every other leaf.

The Photographs Were Made Without Touching the Sheet

The paper lies on a light table, the camera above it.

A Sheet with Two Watermarks at Once

Paper from two different batches, joined in the mill itself.

The Watermark: An Exhibition Viewed Against the Light

The mill's mark shows only when there is light behind the sheet.

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