The history of paper, like that of so many other great inventions, dates back to an early period in China; and, as is the case with almost every great contribution to civilization which came from China, paper came to the Western world only after many years and only by chance. In the 8th century of the Christian era, when paper had been made in China for 1000 years, some Chinese paper-makers were taken captives in Samarkand by Arabs, who thus learned the methods of its manufacture. The Arabs and the Persians used linen as a base for the paper instead of the cotton the Chinese used; and the name “paper” was transferred from the Egyptian rush and the writing material made from its fibres to the new product. Paper was manufactured in Europe first by the Moors in Spain at Xativa, Valencia and Toledo in the 12th century; and into Italy also it seems to have been brought by the Arab occupation of Sicily. Among other interesting points in regard to the history of paper are: water-marks as a sign of age; old papers; variation in prices of paper; blotting-paper, wrapping paper, etc. The articles Papyrus (Vol. 20, p. 743) and Parchment (Vol. 20, p. 798), both by Maunde Thompson, deal with these earlier writing materials. Palimpsest (Vol. 20, p. 633) describes the processes by which writings which have been scraped or washed from sheets of vellum, so that the material might be used again, can sometimes be chemically restored and deciphered.
Paper Manufacture
In taking up the study of paper manufacture, the first article to be read is Fibres by C. F. Cross, the well-known analytical and consulting chemist, and especially the section in it on Paper-making (Vol. 10, p. 312). This describes the treatment of cotton and flax for writing and drawing papers, wood pulp, esparto, cellulose and cereal straws for printing-paper, etc. See also the article Cellulose (Vol. 5, p. 606) by C. F. Cross. The section on Manufacture in the article Paper, already mentioned, should next be read. Here it is stated that rags, linen or cotton, were the principal materials used for paper in Europe until the middle of the 19th century; and then when prices rose, because the necessarily inelastic supply was no longer sufficient, esparto-grass, wood and straw began to be used as substitutes. The change from hand-making to machinery began in France in 1798 and was accomplished in England in 1803, with the result that hand-made paper is now used only where great durability is the chief requisite, as for bank-notes and drawing paper.
Actual paper manufacture may be divided into two processes: the preliminary cleaning and reduction to pulp; and the methods of converting pulp to paper—including beating, sizing, colouring, making the sheet or web, surfacing, cutting, etc. Reduction to pulp is described in the treatment of esparto, straw and wood, and there are cuts showing rag-boiler, rag-breaking engine, esparto boiler, press-pâte or half-stuff machine, esparto bleaching and beating plant, and the Porion evaporator and the Yaryan multiple-effect evaporator for soda recovery.
Paper-making proper, after the pulp has been prepared, is next described. The first process is beating; and besides the esparto bleaching and beating plant, described under bleaching, there are drawings of the Taylor and Jordan beaters and a description of them and of the Kingsland beater. Sizing, loading and colouring are then explained. The other main topics of the section on manufacture are: hand manufacture (with two illustrations), paper machine, with pictures of the paper machine, of the dandy roll, of super-calender and of reel paper cutters, and paragraphs on straining, forming the sheet, shake, water marking and couching, pressing and drying, surfacing, machine power, tub-sizing, glazing or surfacing for better grades, cutting, sheeting, sizes (with table), standards of quality, the paper trade, and a list of the best books on paper.
India Paper
The article Paper closes with a brief history and description of India paper, which is of particular interest because of the adoption and successful use of this paper in the new Encyclopaedia Britannica. In this true India paper, “the material used is chiefly rag,” but “the extraordinary properties of this paper are due to the peculiar care necessary in the treatment of the fibres, which are specially beaten in the beating engine.” The first India paper was brought to England from the Far East in 1841 by an Oxford graduate, and the name India was used merely to express this Oriental origin, as in “Indian ink” or in the name “Indians” as applied to the American aborigines when their home was thought to be a part of the East. Just where the paper came from is not known. It was given to the Oxford University Press and was used in printing a very small English Bible in 1842. This book was only one-third the usual thickness, and attracted much attention by its lightness and by the opacity of the thin tough paper.
In 1874 a copy of this Bible fell into the hands of Henry Frowde, and experiments were instituted at the Oxford University paper mills at Wolvercote with the object of producing similar paper. On the 24th of August 1875 an impression of the Bible, similar in all respects to that of 1842, was placed on sale by the Oxford University Press. The feat of compression was regarded as astounding, the demand was enormous, and in a very short time 250,000 copies of this “Oxford India paper Bible” had been sold. Many other editions of the Bible, besides other books, were printed on the Oxford India paper, and the marvels of compression accomplished by its use created great interest at the Paris Exhibition of 1900. Its strength was as remarkable as its lightness; volumes of 1500 pages were suspended for several months by a single leaf, as thin as tissue; and, when they were examined at the close of the exhibition, it was found that the leaf had not started, the paper had not stretched, and the volume closed as well as ever. The paper, when subjected to severe rubbing, instead of breaking into holes like ordinary printing paper, assumed a texture resembling chamois leather, and a strip 3 in. wide was found able to support a weight of 28 lb. without yielding. The success of the Oxford India paper led to similar experiments by other manufacturers, and there were, in 1910, nine mills (two each in England, Germany and Italy, one each in France, Holland and Belgium) in which India paper was being produced. India paper is mostly made upon a Fourdrinier machine in continuous lengths, in contradistinction to a hand-made paper, which cannot be made of a greater size than the frame employed in its production.
In addition to technical information in regard to paper the student of the manufacture of books must know something about ink.
Ink