Papers, balloons and Jacobin

And the papers have their own history, which you could already read about on this blog.

Now let’s take a closer look at the Johannot paper on which Angela Soltys’s book Między Konstytucję a Targowica was printed , as well as several copies of graphics by Thomas Rowlandson and Paul Sandby, which will soon be available in our gallery.

The Johannot family paper mill was founded in the 17th century in Annonay, where there was a competing company run by the Montgolfier family. In the late 1770s, both companies worked in unison to create a French equivalent of the English wove paper , paper without the characteristic ribs that were a sign of previous shaking from a sieve. In Great Britain, this type of paper, produced by the Whatman family, appeared around 1750. In this respect, France was clearly lagging behind.

In 1779, Pierre-François Didot, a representative of the famous Parisian publishing clan, himself involved in paper production in Essone, wrote to Matthieu Johannot about the need to cooperate in creating this type of paper. These efforts were crowned with success and already in 1781 the Johannot family could boast a gold medal awarded by Louis XVI himself. The first books were printed on vellum paper from Annonay, using a font specially cut for the Didots, no longer featuring the long "s", which was considered one of the symbols of classicism and permanently entered the history of typography.

The Johannots' contribution to history does not end there. Together with the owners of a competing paper mill, the Montgolfier brothers, they worked on a special paper used to create the world's first balloon. It was in Annonay that the first balloon flight was made on 14 December 1782. It was there that the new invention was publicly demonstrated on 4 June 1783. Matthieu Johannot's penchant for novelties was clearly shared by his son, Jean-Baptiste Johannot (1740–1795). Unfortunately, these were political novelties. After the outbreak of the French Revolution, Jean-Baptiste became known as a radical, a fanatical Jacobin and an anticlerical. He was executed after the fall of Robespierre's dictatorship on 7 May 1795, and the company was run by his son, François, from then on .