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 The raw material for handmade paper consisted of rags that were stripped of their irregularities like tags, buttons and hooks by female sorters or `rag tearers' before being processed. They then distributed the material by sort, depending on the quality for which it had to be used. Although the first cleaning had taken place, this sorting was a very dirty and unhealthy job. At the bottom of this print a boy is cutting rags. It can also been seen how the rags fall into basins and are mixed with water. This print and the next one from this series are taken from a famous French book on paper making. In 1792, a Dutch version was published by A. Blussé and Son in Dordrecht, with the same plates but printed in a much smaller format.