Yes, there were times. Writers, poets and, of course, scribes, using goose feathers, created texts and even did not count the number of characters. An epistolary genre arose , according to the canons of which a literary work was composed in the form of letters of characters to each other. By the way, mail was also sent not via the Internet; it had come a long way on various types of transport. And instead of air conditioners in hot weather, it gave cool draft. A light breeze could disperse a neatly folded stack of papers, and they scattered in disarray, and collecting them was not easy. So they came up with crushing letters, statements, petitions and other documents with the help of heavy objects, calling them paperweight.
French paper
In Russia in the 19th century, a sign of good taste was communication in French. Many concepts sounded in Russian, according to the then aristocrats, somewhat rude. So they considered the load for pressing a stack of paper sheets to be considered as a paper carrier inappropriate. Much more elegantly sounds "paperweight". In French, these two words are also written with a hyphen, and translated very simply: presse - it is the press, and papier is the paper.
The first presses for papers
To perform its functions, this item must meet two conditions: be heavy enough to hold the sheets under intense blowing, but also not so that its movement is tiring. The material did not matter, and beautiful minerals came up, and low statuettes, in general, everything that somehow corresponded to the sizes. Here aesthetic qualities played a role, because few people would think of bringing ordinary cobblestone or brick to their workplace. Particularly rich nouveaux riches (it could never have occurred to true aristocrats) showed bad taste, and pressed their stock-bonds-protocols with a gold bar or a bag of coins. In general, in those days when excess ink was removed from the paper using special very fine sand, everyone solved the problem of preserving correspondence as best he could.
Blotters and people
The real fashion for paperweight came about after the invention of blotting paper. This “discovery of the century” happened by chance, in 1835, and it was caused by the ordinary negligence of a worker from a paper station who forgot to add an adhesive substrate to the solution. Further, the design idea started working in a completely unpredictable direction, the idea arose to combine the functions of pressing and getting wet, which was realized in the model that became classic. A paperweight with blotting paper on a semicircular platform was equipped with clamps for attaching it, and a convenient handle was located on top. Over time, even a tradition arose that, after signing an important contract, it was respectfully rolled by special workers who came from somewhere behind. In the second half of the 20th century, these inconspicuous workers of the diplomatic front were called “blotting people”. They say that getting a responsible position was not easy.
Jewelery
Paperweight was issued in millions of copies in our country and abroad, but, like any household item, each element of a desktop device could be either standard or status, that is, emphasizing the importance of its owner. In this case, there is a complete analogy with such a prosaic thing as a fountain pen. It was one thing bought in an ordinary stationery store, and quite another - Parker or Mont Blanc with a golden pen, at the cost of the clerk's annual income. Paper in the paperweight is attached in the same way, but the finish and materials are very expensive, precious stones and metals are sometimes used in it, and the best jewelers are instructed to make it.
The practical need for this stationery disappeared with the advent of ballpoint pens. Ink remained in the arsenal of presidents of countries and transnational corporations, signing treaties that determine the future of the planet. They and the paperweight in their hands!