Illuminated manuscripts in classical and mediaeval times, their art and their technique

by J. H. Middleton

Papyrus paper.

Papyrus paper.Papyrus paper. The ancient methods employed in the preparation of papyrus paper (charta) can be clearly made out by the evidence of existing examples aided by the minute but not wholly accurate description given by Pliny, Hist. Nat. XIII. 71 to 83.

Papyrus plant.

Papyrus plant.The papyrus plant, the Cyperus Papyrus of Linnaeus, (Greek βύβλος) is a very tall, handsome variety of reed which grows in marshes and shallows along the sides of streams of water. The plant has at the top a very graceful tufted bunch of foliage; its stem averages from three to four inches in diameter, and the total height of the plant is from ten to twelve feet.

It grows in many places in Syria, in the Euphrates valley and in Nubia. In Egypt itself it is now extinct, but it was abundant there in ancient times, especially in the Delta of the Nile.

The only spot in Europe where the papyrus plant grows in a wild state is near Syracuse in the little river Anapus, where it was probably introduced by the Arab conquerors in the eighth or ninth century A.D.

It grows here in great abundance and sometimes nearly blocks up the stream so that a boat can scarcely get along.

The stem of the papyrus consists of a soft, white, spongy or cellular pith surrounded by a thin, smooth, green rind. Papyrus paper (βιβλία or χάρτης) was wholly made from the cellular pith. The method of manufacture was as follows.

Process of manufacture.

Process of manufacture.The long stem of the plant was first cut up into convenient pieces of a foot or more in length; the pith in each piece was then very carefully and evenly cut with a sharp knife into thin slices. These slices were then laid side by side, their edges touching but not overlapping, on the smooth surface of a wooden table which was slightly inclined to let the superfluous sap run off, as it was squeezed out of the slices of pith by gentle blows from a smooth wooden mallet. When by repeated beating the layer of pith had been hammered down to a thinner substance, and a great deal of the sap had drained off, some fine paste made of wheat-flour was carefully brushed over the whole surface of the pith. A second layer of slices of pith, previously prepared by beating, was then laid crosswise on the first layer made adhesive by the paste, so that the slices in the second layer were at right angles to those of the first. The beating process was then repeated, the workmen being careful to get rid of all lumps or inequalities, and the beating was continued till the various slices of pith in the two layers were thoroughly united and amalgamated together.