Paper - Where did it come from?

Paper is a common material with individual Americans using about 580 pounds of it per year. But during much of history, paper was rarely used. In Europe, it wasn’t until the 15^th Century that it became a practical item. Johann Gutenburg perfection of the movable type and subsequent printing of the Bible in 1450’s is considered the birth date of modern paper. However, there is much more to the story. In Egypt 5000 years ago, the marsh grass papyrus was soften and woven into mats, pounded thin and left to dry in the sun. The resulting sheets were ideal for writing. It soon became the favored writing medium for the Egyptians, Greeks and Romans. Other cultures developed similar material – the 2^nd Century Mayans and some Pacific Islanders. However, these types of mat-like mediums are similar to paper in function but not structure. True paper is thin sheets made from fiber that has been soaked and soften until each individual filament is a separate unit. It was T’sai Lun of China in 105 A.D. who is credited with developing the technique of true paper making. T’sai Lun’s thin, yet flexible and strong paper had a fine, smooth “distinguished” surface perfect for writing. The Chinese kept papermaking a secret until the 3^rd Century when it started to creep throughout the Far East. In the 8^th Century it reached the Islamic Middle East. The muslin Moors introduced the process to the European continent in the 12^th Century. There it slowly caught on replacing the expensive animal skin parchment. Once it was readily available, interest turned back to the Chinese and their printing methods. And it is from them Gutenburg got his inspiration for movable type. But that is not the whole story either! About the same time as Gutenburg’s Bible, the Aztecs of modern Mexico independently developed paper from the agarve plant and were making books called codices - pictured is a copy of a page from the Madrid Codex ca. 15th Century- credit Historyforkids.org