Writing materials and Book Formats Paper Paper is the most conspicuous writing material as we speak, although in years to come its crown might be claimed by electronic devices such as tablets and ebook readers. But precisely because paper is so common we don’t think much about its origin or making process. In this video we will deal briefly with the itinerary of paper from its invention in China to its arrival in the West, and also how traditional paper is made and which classes of paper can be found in medieval manuscripts. Paper is a Chinese invention, due, according to the tradition, to Ts’ai Lun, a clerk in the service of emperor Hai and dweller in the province of Hunan, in the year 105 AD, although the oldest paper fragments preserved are some letters from 137 AD. In 751, after the battle of Samarkand, among the prisoners the Arabs took there were some paper craftsmen and they were forced to reveal its secret. And so paper started its route to the West, through a double path along the Northern and Southern shores of the Mediterranean, as can be seen in this map. The main landmarks of the introduction of paper in Europe are the following: Paper was already known in Spain in the 10th century. We know of paper mills in Valencia in 1056, in Toledo in 1085 and in Xativa in 1154. Here the oldest paper preserved comes from two codices written in the monastery of Silos, one of which is at present in the Bibliotheque Nationale de France, and a glossary that is still in the abbey library. In Italy the oldest exemplar is a mandate of countess Adelaida of 1109, written in Greek and Arabic, which now is in the Archivo di Stato of Palermo. The existence of a paper mill in Fabriano is documented already in 1276, and since then the name of this beautiful town has been associated to paper making. The first Italian manuscript written on paper dates from 1270. To France paper came through a double way, from Spain and from Italy. Here the first documented papers were produced in the region of Troyes and in the Essone valley, around 1350. In Germany the first production centre was established in Nuremberg in 1390 with the collaboration of some Italian craftsmen. To the Low Countries paper came thanks to a Spaniard called John, who established a workshop in Liege in 1405. In the British Isles paper was only known during the 15th century, and even later in Scandinavia, in the 17th century. Let’s see now, if just briefly, the manufacture process of traditional paper. Because this process requires a lot of water, the paper mills are always placed in really idyllic landscapes, close to a river. There are still some of these ateliers, where paper is still made in the traditional manner. We can mention for example Ambert in France and Capellades in Spain, but there are many other museum-mills all across Europe. The raw material of the first Chinese papers was a sort of mulberry tree leaf, but when the crafts left the borders of its native country this component had to be substituted, since that variety of plant couldn’t be found in other regions. And therefore the recipes were simplified and as raw ingredients linen rags started to be used, and in a lesser proportion flax. The first step in the process was classifying the rags by colour, cutting them in relative small pieces and whitewashing them with a kind of bleach made out of wood ash. These materials were then reduced to a paste in big vats, where they were left to macerate in water until the pulp was homogeneous. In the beginning the operation was done by hand, and later by animal powered millstones. Finally, during the 13th century and probably in Italy the millstones were substituted by heavy hammers activated by gears moved by running water. The resulting paste was then poured in a metallic tub were it was kept at constant temperature. The craftsman then takes a rectangular sieve called a mould and introduces it in the tub. When the mould comes out of the tub is covered with a layer of the paste, the future paper leaf, that the craftsman lays on felt to absorb the excess of water and start the drying process. Then a certain amount of felts with their respective leaves were pressed in order to eliminate even more water and that also helped with the smoothing flat. The following step was to hang the leaves and let them dry completely. When the leaves were dry they were submerged in glue and again pressed and hung to dry. And the finishing touch consisted in polishing and smoothing the leaves one by one by hand. Of this whole process the single element that developed more changes was the mould. Three different types of mould are known: floating mould, Oriental or flexible mould and Occidental or rigid framed mould. The Oriental or flexible mould has no frame, and that implies that the threads that make the sieve will deform after a short period of use. The Occidental or rigid mould has a frame, and it ensures that the threads will keep in place for a very long time. Figure 1. Papermaking with an Oriental flexible mould (left) and a Western rigid paper mould The mould framework leaves very characteristic marks on the paper leaf. The lines that run longitudinally, very close to each other, are called wire-lines, and the transverse ones chain-supports. Figure 2. Marks left on the paper leaf by the mould Since the 13th century, Occidental paper has been manufactured with a watermark. This is a silhouette worked out with metallic threads in the mould, so that it leaves a mark in the paper leaves that could identify the manufacturer. Together with the watermark sometimes we find a secondary mark or countermark of smaller dimension, most commonly some decorated initials placed in one of the corners of the leaf. The purpose of this countermark was to distinguish between two manufacturers that used the same watermark or watermarks very similar. The types of paper used during the Middle Ages can be divided in two wide classes: with and without watermark. The paper without watermark is characteristic of the East, but the papers made in the West previously to the invention of the watermark in the 13th century fall as well within this category. The paste in this sort of paper is normally well glued in starch, and the surface is flat and of a yellowish colour tending to dun. As already explained the mould of these papers is of the flexible sort and of course they lack a watermark. The formats are very variable. Watermark paper is characteristically European from the 13th century. Besides the frame of the mould and the watermark, this sort of paper is identified through its irregular paste and rough surface, of absorbent appearance. The glue is of animal origin and the colour light yellowish. Of course paper is a far less resilient material than parchment, and because of that its preservation is more difficult. But even so there are thousands of medieval manuscripts written on paper. This deficiency of paper was very consciously perceived in medieval times, and therefore for a very long time paper was considered a sort of poor substitute for parchment. And maybe because of that, the very first manuscripts copied on paper have the outer bifolium of each quire of parchment. Only towards the end of the Middle Ages we start to find de-luxe manuscripts copied entirely on paper, as this Book of knight Zifar, preserved in Paris, in the Bibliotheque Nationale de France. [MUSIC: Alonso de Mudarra, Fantasy X; interpreted by Valéry Sauvage (Luthval)]
