Paper: A New Introduction

Paper is one of humanity’s most important inventions. In one form or another, paper has been involved in everything from the earliest record keeping in civilization to the spread of religion and from diplomacy around the world to the birth of the self-help industry. In ancient times, Polynesian cultures used tapa cloth made from the bark of the paper mulberry tree. Bark was stripped from the trees and then scraped, dried, and soaked before being painted with elaborate patterns. The British explorer Captain James Cook, who died in 1779, introduced it to the rest of the world, but most regions already had a very long history of products similar to modern paper by then.

• Tapa and Art in the Pacific Islands and New Zealand: Great resource with photos and information on traditionally-styled tapa bark cloth and other forms of indigenous art.

• Museum of New Zealand: Searchable collection includes hundreds of examples of tapa.

• Economic Botany Collection: Bark Cloth: All about the production of bark cloth, along with photographs of several examples. From the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew, in southern England.

• Robert C. Williams Papermaking Museum: A resource of Georgia Tech that features a collection of over 10,000 items related to the history of papermaking, as well as educational information on papermaking throughout the ages.

• Glossary of Papermaking Terms: Includes historical and modern terms, provided by the Paper Industry International Hall of Fame.

Handcrafted Paper in the East

Scientists have discovered the earliest form of paper to have been created around the year 105 A.D. by Ts’ai-Lun, an official from Lei-yang, China. He presented a papermaking technique to the emperor that was very successful in speeding along the development of paper in that country. Paper was typically made from plants such as hemp that had been soaked and beaten to a wet pulp, then strained through a special cloth sieve attached to a platform for drying. However, early paper was also made from textile in the east as the art of paper-making journeyed from China on to Korea and then Japan. By the fourth century, high-quality paper was being handmade by Buddhist monks in Korea, though records are sparse on exactly how it was made.

By the seventh century, the art of paper making traveled to Japan. The Japanese made their traditional paper, called washi, from the long inner fibers of three local plants: kozo, mitsumata, and campi. Asian cultures had handmade paper for centuries by the time it became known to Europeans in the 600s A.D. The process of making paper is thought to have remained essentially eastern in character until as late as six hundred years after that.

• C’est La Livre: An overview of the development of paper from ancient times to present.

• The Birth of Papermaking: An article focusing on details of ancient Chinese paper production.

• Traditional Korean Papermaking: More details on Korean and ancient eastern papermaking from the Cornell University Library.

• Washi: Information on traditional Japanese papermaking.

• Silk Road or Paper Road?: An in-depth, illustrated article on ancient papermaking throughout the Arab world.

Birth of the Papermaking Industry in Europe

By the 1300s, Italian papermakers developed a new production method using rags and a rigid mould. White paper was being produced in England by the late 1400s, but the development of paper may have continued to lag throughout Europe were it not for the invention of the printing press. This machine made it possible to produce books in larger numbers than ever before, and encouraged the abandonment of traditional vellum in favor of paper. Experiments in new kinds of paper were driven by a huge market demand. Papermakers worked with an enormous variety of materials, including straw, cabbage, and cloth rags. This search drove further innovation until at last, in 1798, the French soldier Nicholas-Louis Robert invented a machine capable of producing a long, seamless sheet of paper. The design quickly spread to America and beyond. Robert's machine made paper from cut rags that were soaked in a vat before being transferred to a belt of wire cloth. This belt brought it through rollers for pressing. At the end of the cycle, a worker cut out the paper and hung it up to dry. Similar machines were developed by other entrepreneurs throughout the century.

• The Atlas of Early Printing: Highly interactive resource on the development and spread of papermaking and printing in 15^th century Europe.

• History of Paper: Extremely detailed, illustrated academic essay on papermaking and paper use in medieval Europe.

• Nicholas-Louis Robert’s Papermaking Machine: Information on colonial papermaking and Nicholas-Louis Robert’s papermaking device.

• Treasures of the University of Delaware Library: Includes a brief biographical sketch of Joshua Gilpin, an American printer who, along with his brother, established the first paper mill in Delaware in 1787 and later designed a papermaking machine similar to Nicholas-Louis Robert’s.

Papermaking Today

Today’s high-tech paper machines owe a great deal to Robert’s invention; in fact, the fundamentals of papermaking have changed very little. Logs are debarked and chipped, and the resulting wood pulp is washed, bleached, and beaten. If desired, colors and coatings are added, then the slush is pumped into a wire screen. Water is drained away, and the resulting mixture is squeezed and dried between several pairs of rollers. The finished paper is wound into huge rolls – just a bit reminiscent of M. Robert’s machine – and finally cut into smaller sheets. Paper is one of the most expensive and wide-ranging industries around the world. Today's paper mills typically invest close to $100,000 in equipment per employee. Modern paper machines can produce over 1,000 miles of paper a day at speeds of over 45 miles an hour. Millions of books, bills, brochures, menus, and countless other paper products are printed every year, and paper is now a cornerstone of life the world over.

• Wisconsin Paper Council: An advocacy and educational organization based in Wisconsin, the state that leads the U.S. in paper production. Includes information on history, production, and the uses of paper.

• Morgan Art of Papermaking Conservatory and Educational Foundation: An Ohio-based nonprofit foundation focused on preserving the art of handmade papermaking with traditional methods.

• Printing and Papermaking: Informational resources all about aspects of papermaking and printing including types of paper and paper-like materials, types of printing machinery in medieval times and beyond, the history and making of “paper” from various sorts of materials including instructional guides, and more.

• Paper Online: Offers a timeline, history, and a variety of educational resources on the background and current status of paper and the paper industry worldwide.

• The Paper Project: Dedicated to exploring paper as an art form and technology since 1998. The site includes a web gallery and paper exhibits.

Please feel free to print out any of these resources at home. Before you do, please be sure to stock up on high quality remanufactured inkjet and toner cartridges.

This was written by Printerinks.com, your home for printer inks and laser toner.