A ream wrapper for the Burbank paper mill in Sutton, MA. This ream wrapper has been repurposed as a sheet of scrap paper.[1]

Ream wrappers are sheets of paper used for packaging reams of paper.[1] As most historical ream wrappers from Europe and America were printed with a pictorial label, they are generally classified as graphic ephemera in museum and special collections.[1] The oldest extant ream wrapper labels are printed from woodcuts.[2] In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, labels were also produced via engraving on wood, copper, and steel.[2][3]

An American account book from the nineteenth century, bound in a Dutch ream wrapper. This item is held by the American Antiquarian Society.[2]

In traditional paper mills, apprentices produced paper for ream wrappers at the end of the day, as it was not necessary for this paper to have an even consistency or color.[4] Pulp for ream wrapper paper was made with dirty, worn, or colored rags unsuitable for the making of finer paper, as well as with waste paper scraps and cuttings.[2] Occasionally, labels were printed on small pieces of fine paper, which were then affixed to the rougher packaging paper.[4] While ream wrappers were meant to be discarded, they were sometimes repurposed as scrap paper, covers for homemade account or recipe books, or as end-paper in case-bound books.[4][5][6]

A Dutch ream wrapper with the Pro Patria motif, c. 1750–1800.[3]

Ream wrappers may be used to identify the location, layout, and scale of historical paper mills.[7] However, they have not been studied as extensively as watermarks because extant ream wrappers are less common.[8]

References

  1. ^ a b "Ream Wrappers | American Antiquarian Society". www.americanantiquarian.org. Retrieved 2026-08-24.
  2. ^ a b c Voorn, Henk (1969). Old Ream Wrappers: An Essay on Early Ream Wrappers of Antiquarian Interest. North Hills, PA: Bird & Bull Press. p. 23.
  3. ^ Pomeroy, Jane R. (2005). Alexander Anderson 1775-1870: Wood Engraver and Illustrator: an Annotated Bibliography. New Castle: Oak Knoll Press. p. 88. ISBN 978-1-58456-162-0.
  4. ^ a b c Hunter, Dard (1950). Papermaking by Hand in America. Chillicothe, Ohio: Mountain House Press. pp. 201–202.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  5. ^ "An Unexpected Discovery: Early Modern Recycling". Merton College, Oxford.
  6. ^ on, Margaret C. Maurer (2026-05-13). "Recipes and Recycling: A Dutch Ream Wrapper in an English Recipe Book". Unique at Penn. Retrieved 2026-08-24.
  7. ^ Bidwell, John (2013). American paper mills, 1690-1832: a directory of the paper trade, with notes on products, watermarks, distribution methods, and manufacturing techniques. Hanover, N.H. Worcester, Mass: Dartmouth College Press In association with the American Antiquarian Society. pp. xl. ISBN 978-1-58465-964-8.
  8. ^ Morris, Henry and Leonard B. Schlosser (1976). A Pair on Paper: Two Essays on Paper History and Related Matters. North Hills, Pennsylvania: Bird & Bull Press. pp. 44–45.