Who recorded the use of eraser first and where?
The use of ERASER OR INDIA-RUBBER was first recorded by Dr Joseph Priestly in his Familiar introduction to the Theory and Practice of Perspective, London, 1770. In a addendum he wrote :
Since this work was printed off, I have seen a substance excellently adapted to the purpose of wiping from a paper the marks of a black-lead pencil. It must, therefore, be of singular use to those who practice, It is sold by Mr Nairne, Mathematical Instrument Maker, opposite the Royal Exchange. He sells a cubical piece of about half an inch for three shillings, and he says it will last for several years.
Mr Nairne does not appear to have been in any way exceptional in his prices, for five years later stationers were reported to be charging a guinea an ounce for the rare substance. Although the French term caoutchouc persisted in Britain until the 1850s, an encyclopedia of 1778 notes that it ‘is popularly called rubber or lead eater’.
