Ink Blotters

Back in the days when everyone used quill pens and fountain pens the one thing that could be found on every office or writing desk was an ink blotter. Ink blotters were usually made of a soft absorbent paper formed into a card and were used to dry up excess ink. Today, these vintage blotters, made in the 1930s and 1940s, are very highly prized and sought after collectibles. Ink Blotters were a very popular form of advertising that were often given away by fountain pen manufacturers, banks, merchants and especially Insurance Companies. Antique Ink blotters were as common as business cards are today.  Written references to ink blotting paper in America have been found beginning in the late 1700s. In the late 1800s, a patent was issued for improved blotting paper which featured a smooth surface on one side and a blotting surface on the other.  Rocker blotters were an important piece of desk equipment from the late 1880s until the 1950s. This type of blotter had a handle 2 to 5 inches long and a rounded surface 2 to 3 inches wide where the blotting paper was attached. Blotting paper is used to absorb ink or oil from writing materials.

Pen Boutique offer two very absorbent brands of blotting paper.

http://www.penboutique.com/j-herbin-10-blotting-paper-pad-refill.html

http://www.penboutique.com/p-8726-visconti-plasticized-blotting-paper.aspx

When was blotter paper first found in the United States?

























Blotting paper was first manufactured in the United States by Joseph Parker & Son in 1856. (no relation to Parker Pens)