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Information on the Watermark --Back to Codicology-- Watermarks were first used by European paper makers as a means of identifying the paper with the trade organization who manufactured it. Early watermarks were produced by attaching a raised wire design to the mesh of a paper mold. The watermark image results from the paper being slightly thinner over the raised wire and can only be seen clearly when held up to the light. Watermarks are useful as a historical tool as they can provide fairly accurate dating and probable place of origin of manuscripts and texts. Modern study and cataloging of watermarks began in 1907 with Charles Moise Briquet's four-volume Les Filigranes: dictionaire historique des marques du papier. For this catalog Briquet painstakingly hand sketched and measured thousands of watermarks. More recently Thomas Gravell, Jr. pioneered the Dylux® method, which uses Dupont Dylux® photosensitive paper to accurately reproduce watermarks. This was the method used in the reproduction of the watermark from this codex. A complete description of the Dylux® method can be found here and Gravell's online, searchable watermark database here. This watermark reproduced from the codex measures 37 mm in diameter. It features a goose within a circle and the letter "P" with an oblique stroke through the lobe directly above. As of yet the watermark and its place of origin have not been definitively identified. It closely resembles watermark #12210 in Briquet's catalog and also Bird.008.1 in Gravell's database. The Gravell watermark was taken from f. 311 of John Barclay's Argenis, located in the Folger Shakespeare Library, shelfmark V.b.46. This manuscript is dated ca. 1620. The watermark also resembles #182 in Heawood where it is dated 1628-1648.