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Overview
- History Of Papermaking
EARLY DEVELOPMENT
The earliest known record of paper comes to us from China
at about 105 C.E. when Ts'ai Lun, an official of the Imperial
Court, reported its invention to the Emperor. Archaeological
discoveries in northwest China now show papermaking was present
some 200 years earlier. Early Chinese paper appears to have
been made from a suspension of hemp waste in water, washed,
soaked, and beaten to a pulp with a wooden mallet, but pulp
was later prepared from fibers of hemp, rattan, mulberry,
bamboo, rice straw, and seaweed. For the paper mold, a sieve
of coarsely woven cloth was stretched in a four-sided bamboo
frame, then used to dip up the fiber slurry from the vat
and hold it for drying. Eventually, tree bark, bamboo, and
other plant fibers were used in addition to hemp. Arguably,
the first significant advance in papermaking came with use
of a smooth material for the mold covering, which made it
possible for the papermaker to free the newly formed sheet
and reuse the mold immediately. This covering was made from
thin strips of rounded bamboo stitched or laced together
with silk, flax, or animal hairs. Other Chinese improvements
in papermaking include the use of starch as a sizing material
and the use of a yellow dye which doubled as an insect repellent
for manuscript paper.
From China, papermaking moved to Korea and Japan, where production
of paper began as early as the 6th century C.E. According
to tradition, a Korean monk named Don-cho brought papermaking
to Japan by sharing his knowledge at the Imperial Palace
in approximately AD 610, sixty years after Buddhism was introduced
in Japan. The Japanese first used paper only for official
records and documentation, but with the rise of Buddhism,
demand for paper grew rapidly.
Although the Chinese seem to have protected the invention,
Chinese papermakers eventually taught others their art. Tibetans
began to make their own paper as a replacement for their
traditional writing materials, though the shape of Tibetan
paper books still reflects the long, narrow format of their
original palm-leaf books. Chinese papermakers eventually
spread their craft to Central Asia and Persia, from which
it was later introduced to India by traders.
THE SPREAD TO EUROPE & EVOLUTION
We know it took a millennia for knowledge of the invention
to spread to the Near East and, ultimately, Europe. The export
of paper from the Middle East to Byzantium and other parts
of Europe began in the 10th and 11th centuries. Paper production
arrived in Spain about the 12th century and the Italians acquired
the process from Palestine about the same time. Interestingly,
early paper was disfavored by the Christian world as a manifestation
of Moslem culture, although the interests of wealthy European
landowners in sheep and cattle for parchment and vellum may
also have exerted influence. The invention of the printing
press forced changes in these attitudes.
The quality of early European paper (primarily made from linen
or cotton rags, or a mixture of the two) was superior, most
of relatively heavy substance with considerable character in
the texture of the surface and well sized. The Spanish invention
of the stamping mill shortened and facilitated the maceration
of the pulp, so that the fibers became shorter and the character
of paper gradually changed, becoming smoother and thinner.
Early in the 19th century, the manufacture of paper became
totally mechanized, an event which was to have a profound influence
on bookbinding arriving from the characteristics of the machine
made paper.
With the tremendous increase in demand for papers over time,
the shortage of rags became chronic late in the 18th century,
papermakers were forced to turn to other potential sources
of vegetable fiber. Experimental papers were produced, but
nothing new was adopted on a large scale until early in the
19th century when straw was first used. Esparto (grass), the
first really successful substitute for linen and cotton fibers,
was introduced in England in 1850, and put into commercial
production early in the 1860s.
Esparto grass is native to Southern Spain (better grade) and
North Africa. Paper produced from Esparto pulp usually has
a relatively small amount of chemical wood pulp (less than
10 percent), provides better formation and good bulk for a
given weight basis, and takes ink well. Of interest to bookbinders,
this paper has minimum stretch and shrinkage problems, has
excellent folding properties, and does not tend to dust or
fluff in printing. Esparto continues to be broadly used in
the U.K. for production of better grades of books, but is seldom
used in the U.S. mainly due the cost of transporting the grass
for pulp.
PAPERMAKING IN AMERICA
William Rittenhouse established the first paper mill in the
United States (Philadelphia) in 1690, which was some 100 years
after paper was first made in Mexico. The Rittenhouse mill
remained the only mill in America until 1710. Most early mills
in the American colonies were started by transplanted papermakers
who modeled their operations on European mills of the day.
These mills had to be located near populated areas that could
provide a reliable supply of rags, the main raw material at
that time. A generous supply of fresh water was also a requirement,
both for washing the fibers and turning the mill machinery.
Many colonial paper mills located near print shops and newspaper
publishers. The first newspaper in the colonies was the Boston
News Letter, which appeared in 1705; the second was the Boston
Gazette, first published in 1719. The third, also dating from
1719, was Bradford's Mercury, which was published by Andrew
Bradford, the son of printer William Bradford. To supply paper
for the New York Gazette, William Bradford started a paper
mill in New Jersey around 1726.
With the Stamp Act of 1765, Great Britain tried to raise revenue
by taxing all colonial commercial and legal papers, newspapers,
and pamphlets. Because of the export trade in paper, Britain
attempted to restrict papermaking in the colonies, but due
to the shortage of paper in America, these restrictions were
not rigorously applied. It was only when colonial printers
began to express their discontent with British rule that Britain
really tried to control the production of paper.
A substantial portion of the machinery used in the early mills
was built in the colonies, not imported. A high degree of craftsmanship
was required to create paper molds; however, the lack of skilled
mold makers in the colonies meant that many paper molds were
imported from England. Nathan Sellers of Pennsylvania was a
skilled wire drawer who applied his craft to the manufacture
of paper molds. Between 1776 and 1820, he supplied the molds
for hundreds of American papermakers. This ability was so rare
that, when Sellers joined the American army in the fall of
1776, he was soon discharged by a special resolution of the
Continental Congress, which sent him home to create the molds
that were so desperately needed to make the paper used for
powder wrappers and written orders during the Revolutionary
War.
By 1810, there were some 185 paper mills in the new nation.
As existing mills expanded and new mills began production,
rags for making paper became scarce, and the search for more
plentiful raw materials began. American papermakers began experimenting
with alternative raw materials as early as the 1790's, and
many mills tested local sources of fiber as substitutes for
rag pulp, including tree bark, bagasse (sugarcane waste), straw,
and cornstalks. Wood pulp became a viable option thanks to
the work of Mathias Koops in England and the increasing availability
of mechanical wood grinders. The first US newspaper to be printed
on paper made from groundwood pulp was the edition of the Boston
Weekly Journal that appeared on January 14, 1863.
