Over time, the role of paper has changed. Today paper is most commonly used for printing, writing and packaging. But it has also been used for thousands of other purposes including: bank notes, postage, packaging, newspapers, books, magazines, stationery and packaging.
A lot of people think that paper evolved from papyrus and parchment, but paper actually originated around the world at roughly the sametime..
Paper making technology spread across the globe to the Middle East. It reached Egypt by the 9th century. The Eygptians had developed their own ‘paper’ made from papyrus as early as the 4000BC, this is where the term paper originated. The earliest papyrus was found at Wadi al-Jarf, on the Red Sea coast. These papyrus scrolls describe the last years of building the Great Pyramid of Giza.
The earliest evidence of papermaking is in China, where paper is thought to have originated around 2000BC. Records attribute the invention of paper-making to
Cai Lun, a Chinese official known for his interest in alchemy and chemistry.
The paper recipe used plant bark fibres, rags and fishing nets. The technology was first transferred to Korea in 600 AD, then imported to Japan by a Buddhist Priest, Dam Jing, around the 2nd century.
The three Gods of Paper-making, Cai Fun, Doncho (left) and Mochizuki Seibee.
Paper technology reached as far west as Morocco by the 11th century. An opportunity occurred after the Battle of Talas in 751, when an Arab army seized Chinese soldiers. There were some paper-makers among the captured soldiers. From them paper-making spread throughout the Islamic world.
Paper was independently invented in China, Korea and Japan around 2000BC.
Chinese woodblocks, each is carved with a Chinese character or symbol.
Woodblock printing started in China in 593 AD. Traditionally, there have been two main printing techniques in East Asia: woodblock printing (xylography) and moveable type printing. In the woodblock technique, ink is applied to letters carved upon a wooden board, which is then pressed onto paper. With moveable type, the board is assembled using different lettertypes, according to the page being printed. Wooden printing was used in the East from the 8th century onwards, and moveable metal type came into use during the 12th century.
The earliest specimen of woodblock printing on paper, whereby individual sheets of paper were pressed into wooden blocks with the text and illustrations carved into them, was discovered in 1974 in an excavation of Xi'an (then called Changan, the capital of Tang China), Shaanxi, China. It is a dharani sutra printed on hemp paper and dated to 650 to 670 AD, during the Tang dynasty (618–907). Another printed document dating to the early half of the Chinese Tang dynasty has also been found, the Saddharmapunṇḍarīka sutra or Lotus Sutra printed from 690 to 699.
In Korea, an example of woodblock printing from the eighth century was discovered in 1966. A copy of the Buddhist Dharani Sutra called the Pure Light Dharani Sutra discovered in Gyeongju, South Korea in a Silla dynasty pagoda that was repaired in 751 AD, was undated but must have been created sometime before the reconstruction of the Shakyamuni Pagoda of Bulguk Temple, Kyongju Province in 751 AD. The document is estimated to have been created no later than 704 AD.
Papermaking was known in Europe by the 1st century and was introduced to the region by Roman soldiers. Papermaking reached Germany and France by the 6th century. The Chinese process was adapted for use in Europe through the study of Arabic manuscripts. This paper was made from rags, hemp, wood pulp, egg whites and glue.
An engraving of paper pulp production in Frankfurt 1568.
The Italians used hemp and linen rags. In 1276 the first Italian paper mill was built at Fabriano and In 1282 the first watermark was introduced in Bologna. Europeans implemented automated pulping with water mills being used to power hammers to break down the raw materials into pulp. In the 19th century advancements in the paper making process with the introduction of steam power and the development of wood pulp (cellulose fibres). This allowed paper to be made more efficiently and cheaply thus vastly increasing production capacity.
Together with the invention of the fountain pen and the mass produced pencil. Plus the advent of the steam driven rotary printing caused a major transformation in
19th century society. Gradually the introduction of cheap paper saw the escalation of fiction, nonfictional novels, schoolbooks, newspapers and diaries. Government records and census archives were kept.
And the white-collar worker was born!
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