Pack of Copy Paper

Description:

The pack of paper under consideration here was produced by the Dickinson Robinson Group Ltd, which was formed in 1966, when the John Dickinson company merged with  E. S. and A. Robinson to form one of the largest stationery and packaging companies in the world. The original John Robinson was born in 1782 and set up as a stationer in1804. He was a great innovator and opened three mills making envelopes and paper, prior to buying Croxley Mill, at Croxley Green in 1830.

Croxley concentrated on paper production, hence the brand name Croxley Script featured on the pack illustrated. The Croxley Mill factory closed in 1980, which helps to date the age of this pack of paper to between 1966 and 1980. Note also the size of the paper, which was 10 by 8 inches or 254 by 203 mm. This was an imperial paper size, known as large post quarto, or quarto for short, and would have been most frequently used in the home. The next size up writing paper, foolscap folio, known as foolscap, was the size most used in offices. These imperial sizes were gradually replaced by size A4 paper during the process of metrification. Note also the price of the pack was a post-decimalisation 25p. This shows that the pack was sold after 1971.

The paper was sold by the family run firm of A.R. Veal Ltd. of Sholing, Southampton, which became a family-run superstore selling a wide range of discount goods to the general public; from Toys, Gifts, Toiletries, Stationery, Groceries, Textiles, and Jigsaw Puzzles, to Partyware, Cake Accessories, Artificial Flowers, Collectable Die-Cast, Seasonal goods and much, much more.

The wording on the packet is interesting ‘Copy paper for use with Croxley Script personal typewriting paper’. The term ‘copy paper’ usually refers to cheap thin paper, with a weight of 80-100 gsm (grams per square metre). This would have been suitable for home use in a typewriter and nowadays in printers and photocopiers. Here the words ‘for use with’, indicate that the contents were to be placed under carbon paper to make a copy of the information typed on the top sheet of paper; hence the term copy paper. Here the packet indicates the manufacturer’s wish that Croxley Script paper should be used on top.