e
to a very trifling extent and serves to clean the surface and add
sharpness to the design.

Impressions taken from a lithographic stone are perfectly flat and
smooth, the surface of the paper being neither raised nor depressed.
They have usually a slightly greasy feel.

[Illustration, Stamp, "N. Caledonie", 10 c.]

An interesting specimen of lithography is supplied by the first issue of
New Caledonia. The design (fifty stamps in five rows of ten) was drawn
upon the stone by a sergeant of Marines, named Triquera. It is said the
work was done with a pointed nail. As might be expected, it was very
crude.

Another interesting stamp was issued in the island of Trinidad in 1855.
In this case, the stone, after the designs had been placed upon it, was
very deeply bitten with acid, so that it might properly be called etched
and the impressions from it be said to be typographed from stone. This
stone was used in 1855, 1858 and 1860. Owing to its friable nature and
want of care the stone deteriorated, so that the last impressions from
it are little better than blurs.

Having considered the design and the methods of preparing plates and
printing stamps the next thing to attract our attention is the paper. We
here show you some photographs of paper. These were not taken by
reflected light but by transmitting light through the paper, so that we
have the fibre and structure of it.

[Illustration: Paper]

The two varieties of paper most used for stamps are termed wove and
laid. Wove paper has an even texture suggestive of cloth. Like cloth it
may show no grain when held to the light or it may have the appearance
of interwoven threads. The paper ordinarily used for books and
newspapers is wove. There is a very thin, tough wove paper, much like
that familiarly known as "onion-skin," which is called pelure by
philatelists. On a few occasions a wove paper, which is nearly as thick
as card board, has been used for stamps.

[Illustration: Paper]

Laid paper shows alternate light and dark lines, parallel and close
together. These lines are called _vergures_. There are usually other
lines, an inch or more apart, crossing the _vergures_ at right angles.

Ribbed paper has much the appearance of a fine closely laid paper. It
is, however, a wove paper with a corrugated surface. In oriental
countries, especially Japan, a peculiar, tough, cottony paper is
produced. It is sometimes wove and sometimes laid, usually thin and hard
to tea