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Last updated 31/1/2024

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Spills were used to carry flame from a fire in order to light the wicks of candles or oil lamps. Prior to the easy availability of cheap matches this would have been the main way in which candles or oil lamps were lit.

Spills were often kept handy in spill vases which stood on the mantlepiece of any room in which a fire was commonly kept lit.

I have found one intriguing reference, from antiqueanswerman.blogspot.com/2008/11/spill-holder.html, to the effect that 'From 1700-1870 spill holders were made of wood, iron, earthenware, glass, and even fancy folded wall paper', but unfortunately no evidence to back it up.

Paper spills could be simple twists of paper or more complex decorative designs.

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1831

The 'American Girl's Book or Occupation for Play Hours' by Eliza Leslie, which was published in Boston and New York in 1831, contains a description of how to fold basic paper spills or matches:

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1833

'The Girl's Own Book' by Lydia Marie Child, which was published by Clark Austin and Co in New York in 1833, contains a section titled 'Alumets', presumably a misspelling of alumettes, which is French for matches. Although the opening sentence claims that 'These ornamental papers are principally for show' it is clear from the following words 'although the avowed purpose is to light cigars, lamps, &c' they are in fact paper spills made by folding and cutting strips of paper.

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1834

The Lady's Book (aka Godey's Lady Book) of June 1834, an American publication, contains instructions for folding and displaying 'paper-matches', a much more basic form of paper spill.

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1836

Paper spills are also mentioned in a story titled 'Every-Day People' in Godey's Lady Book of December 1836.

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1878

Volume 96 (January to June 1878) of Godey's Lady Book contains a section on making 'fancy spills'.

Volume 97 (July to December 1878) of the same publication contained a section titled 'Work for Old Ladies' which gave basic instructions for making paper spills.

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1896

'The Republic of Childhood', titled 'Froebel's Occupations', by Kate Douglas Wiggin and Nora Archibald Smith, which was published by Houghton, Mifflin and Company, of Boston and New York in 1896, contains a mention of the folding of 'dainty lamplighters' by 'our grandmothers'.

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1998

'Travaux Recreatifs Pour les Enfants de 4 a 10 Ans' by Marie Koenig, which was published by Librairie Hachette et Cie in Paris in 1898, contains an illustration which shows simple paper spills and also shows them used to make the stems of pipes. The pipe stems are made from strips of 12 x 2 cms..

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1932

Instructions for making paper spills appear in 'More Paper Magic' by Will Blyth, which was published by C Arthur Pearson in London in 1923.

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