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		paper

		For centuries paper has been one of the most widely used and versatile of materials. In 1945 it was estimated to have some fourteen thousand uses. Despite this versatility, or no doubt because of it, paper is now just taken for granted. When writing was invented, about five thousand six hundred years ago, scribes, the only people who could write, used the most locally abundant material to write on. Starting with sun-dried clay tablets then the 'papyrus' reed, from which the word 'paper' is derived. After papyrus, wood, pottery, tree-bark and wax-tablets were used and finally goat or sheepskin 'parchment' was perfected by the King of 'Pergamum', from where the name comes. About 250 BC China was an isolated country and the Chinese were using bone, cloth and strips of bamboo to write on. Later silk was also in use for the Imperial records. However, this was very expensive to produce so a cheaper alternative was sought. The beginning of the answer was 'Chih' or paper. At first it was unusable, being too soft, rough or perishable. In 105 AD, during the reign of the emperor Ho Ti, his privy councillor, Ts'ai Lun, announced the invention of true paper. We do not know if he was the inventor or, because of his position, was simply the person to announce it. Whatever the truth, Ts'ai Lun was given a house and a pension and eventually deified as the God of the Papermakers. This first paper was mainly composed of discarded fishing nets, cloth and silk waste. These materials were soaked in water, crushed in a pestle to break the fibres and the resulting porridge was then laid in a bamboo frame and left to dry. This process, although somewhat improved, is still the basic one used in making paper today. In around 400 AD, to complement their invention of paper, the Chinese decided to invent true ink from lamp-black, then to round it off they invented printing and in 868 AD printed the first book, the Diamond Sutra, now in the British Library. Paper came from China to Europe via Korea, Japan, Samarkand and in the 8th century, most importantly, Baghdad. For four centuries Damascus was the main source of supply for Europe until the Moors introduced the manufacture to Spain in the 12th century, after it had travelled to Morocco via Egypt. So it has now taken one thousand years to get from China to Europe. Paper was first used in England in 1309 and first produced there in around 1490. The top frame in the picture is of a document in Arabic on paper manufactured in Baghdad in the early 9th century. The centre frame shows the watermark on a sheet of Napoleon 1 personal notepaper. The lower frame is of the most common uses to which paper is put today, such as greetings cards, packaging, letter writing, Lottery tickets and Books.
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