THE HISTORY OF PAPER IN WESTERN CIVILIZATION
TERESA RICE

To this day, the methods of early papermaking in China are not known, but it can be assumed that because tradesmen passed information from one generation to the next that the principles of papermaking went relatively unchanged until such time as the earliest observations could be recorded.

The original papermakers of China probably poured the fibrous pulp into the box-like molds,
but it was not many centuries before the craftsmen practiced the more expeditious method
of dipping the molds directly into the liquid material.⁸

Each sheet of paper is fitted to a woven cloth mold and partially dried. Then, the worker polishes the paper with a piece of porcelain. The paper is returned to the sun to completely dry and is removed from the mold. The substances used by the Ancient Chinese to make up the fibrous pulp of paper were "rags, hemp, and grasses."⁹

At the time of the discovery of paper in China, trade routes for China silk were developing with the west. Along with the trade of silk, paper made its way west as well. However, the secrets of papermaking were maintained until a consequence of war forced the information to be revealed in 751 C.E.¹⁰ In exchange for their lives, two Chinese papermakers offered their knowledge of papermaking to their Arab captures. From there, the knowledge swept through many Arab countries until many cities throughout Asia and North Africa had established their own papermaking industries.

⁸ Hunter, Dard. Papermaking: Through Eighteen Centuries. New York: William Edwin Rudge, 1930, 110.

⁹ Papermaking: Art and Craft, 8.

¹⁰ Papermaking: Art and Craft, 16.

BACK  |   NEXT