Papermaking: A History
The Chinese probably started making paper from rice. The Incas and Aztecs of Central and South America used the bark of plants. And the Egyptians used reeds to make papyrus, for which the Greek word was “papuros”-possibly the source of our modern word “paper.”
In Europe, the Greeks and Romans covered metal tablets with wax, making one of the first “erasable” surfaces. The wax was inscribed with a stylus that was pointed at one end-for writing-and flat or round at the other-for smoothing out unwanted writing.
Parchment made from the skins of animals-mainly sheep and goats-was also popular as a writing surface. It was very expensive, mainly because of the time and cost involved in its production, but for a long time it was the best choice for a portable writing material.
Papermaking as we know it today was invented in China in the second century. The Chinese used hemp, cotton rags, fishing nets, nettle, and mulberry tree bark. This material was literally “beaten to a pulp,” then mixed with water and gathered up into a mold using a strainer made from bamboo. The strainer was then hung to dry, after which the newly-made paper was peeled off and waterproofed with plant juices.
The Chinese continued to improve the papermaking process. They developed a sizing made from starch, and even learned how to treat the paper with a yellow dye that acted as an insect repellent (to keep the paper from being eaten).
Pulp papermaking stayed in China for almost 500 years before making its way to Japan and central Asia. From here it moved to Baghdad-where the Arabs established hundreds of paper mills-and eventually Egypt and Morocco, along the same route as other Chinese “secrets”-the Silk Road. But it took another 300 years before papermaking would reach Europe, probably with the Arabs when they conquered parts of Spain.
At first, the Europeans were slow to embrace this new process. The Christians there felt it had come from the “infidel” Moslem culture. In fact, in 1221 the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II declared all paper documents invalid. But this new paper was so much easier to make than parchment that eventually the pulp process took a hold in Europe. The invention of the printing press in 1450 served to hasten the development of paper mills by increasing the need for paper to feed the presses.
In Europe, paper was at first made from cotton and linen rags. It was not until the 18th century that the increase in wood-grinding machines made wood pieces more available, allowing for the use of wood pulp, which was sturdier than cotton or linen.
Meanwhile, the Americans were making paper from straw, cornstalks, tree bark, and sugarcane waste, with varying degrees of success. They did not start using wood pulp until the middle of the 19th century, when it was used in the publication of the first US newspaper, the Boston Weekly Journal.
The first papermaking machine was invented in 1798 in France, as a way to more quickly replace bank notes that had become scarce during the French Revolution. The design quickly made its way across the English Channel; the first papermaking machine, an improved version of the French one, was patented in 1801. In 1809 the first cylinder-type machine was produced in England, followed soon after by the first of this type in the United States.
With the automation of the papermaking process, the slow, tedious hand method fell out of favor until the early 20th century, when it was revived as an art form. Today, while huge machines turn out billions of sheets of paper every year, many artists worldwide still produce their own sheets, sometimes using handmade equipment to do it.
The “paperless society” predicted by some people with the advent of computers hasn’t arrived yet. We still use huge amounts of paper-much of which feeds the printers attached to those computers. But even if machine-made paper were to die out, handmade paper would remain, because its creative potential is almost unlimited.
