Wednesday, August the 18th, 2004
back to: title, date or indexes
“Take a book four fingers breadth in bigness, or bigger if you will: write on the first leaf with your impregnation of saturn, or else put a paper that you have writ upon between the leaves; turn to t'other side of the Book, and having observed as near as may be the opposite place to your writing, rub the last leaf of the book with cotton dipt in liquor made of quicklime and orpin, nay and leave the cotton on the place clap a folded paper presently upon it, and shutting the book quickly, strike upon it with your hand four or five good strokes; then turn the book, and clap it into a press for half a quarter of an hour; take it out and open it, you'll find the place appear black, where you had writ with the invisible ink. The same thing might be done through a wall, if you could provide something to lay on both sides, that might hinder the evaporation of the spirits.” — quoted in David N Carvalho, Forty Centuries Of Ink, Or A Chronological Narrative Concerning Ink And Its Backgrounds, Introducing Incidental Observations And Deductions, Parallels Of Time And Color Phenomena, Bibliography, Chemistry, Poetical Effusions, Citations, Anecdotes And Curiosa Together With Some Evidence Respecting The Evanescent Character Of Most Inks Of To-day And An Epitome Of Chemico-Legal Ink