| Use of many layers. Sizes of papyrus. |
Use of many layers.For the best sort of papyrus these processes were repeated a third and sometimes even a fourth time, the separate slices in each layer being cut much thinner than in the coarser sorts of paper which consisted of two layers only. The next process was to dry and press the paper; after which its surface was carefully smoothed and polished with an ivory burnisher[[17]]; its rough edges were trimmed, and it was then ready to be made up into sheets or rolls. There was nothing in the method of manufacture to limit strictly the size of the papyrus sheets (σελίδες, paginae) either in breadth or length; Sizes of papyrus.the workmen could lay side by side as many slices of the pith as he liked, and slices of great length might have been cut out of the long stem of the papyrus. Practically, however, it was found convenient to make the paper in rather small sheets; twelve to sixteen inches are the usual widths of papyrus manuscripts.
| Union of the sheets. Long rolls. |
Union of the sheets.The reason of this obviously was that it would have been impossible to cut slices of great length to the requisite thinness and evenness of substance, and so papyrus manuscripts are always made up of a large number of separate sheets carefully pasted together. This was very skilfully done by workmen who (in Pliny's time) were called glutinatores; cf. Cic. Att. IV. 4. The two adjacent edges of the sheets, which were to be joined together by lapping, were thinned down by careful rubbing to about half their original substance. The two laps were then brushed over with paste, accurately applied together, and the union was then completed by beating with the wooden mallet. When the pasted joint was dry it was rubbed and polished with the ivory burnisher till scarcely any mark of the joining remained. Long rolls.In this way long rolls were formed, often fifty feet or more in length; as a rule, however, excessive length for a single roll was inconvenient. Pliny mentions 20 sheets as being an ordinary limit. Thus, for example, in such works as Homer's Iliad or Virgil's Aeneid, each book would form a separate volumen or roll (Greek κύλινδρος or τόμος).
The invention of papyrus paper dates from an early period in the history of Egypt. Examples still exist which are as early as 2300 B.C., and its manufacture was probably known long before that.
| Papyrus used in Greece. |
Papyrus used in Greece.In later times Egyptian papyrus was an important article of export into many countries. An Attic inscription of the year 407 B.C. tells us what the cost of paper then was in Athens; two sheets (χάρται δύο) cost two drachmae and four obols, equal in modern value to about four shillings; see C. I. A. I. 324. The χάρται in this case probably mean, not a single page, but several sheets pasted together to form a roll.
| Papyrus made in Rome. Old MSS. on papyrus. |
Papyrus made in Rome.In Pliny's time paper was made not only in Egypt but also in Rome and at other places in Italy[[18]]. The best kind was formerly called Hieratica, because it was used in Egypt for sacred hieroglyphic writing only. In later times this finest quality, in Rome at least, was called Augusta, and the second quality Liviana, from Livia the wife of Augustus. A coarse variety used for wrapping up parcels and the like was called "shop-paper," emporetica. Pliny also tells us that paper was manufactured of many different breadths, varying from about four to eighteen inches. The commonest width was about twelve inches; see Pliny, Hist. Nat. XIII. 71 to 83. Old MSS. on papyrus.In the last of these paragraphs Pliny mentions examples of old papyrus manuscripts existing in his time, such as manuscripts in the handwriting of Tiberius and Gaius Gracchus, which were nearly two centuries old. Manuscripts written by Cicero, Augustus and Virgil are, he says, still frequently to be seen.
With regard to the antiquity of paper Pliny's views are far from correct. He thinks paper was first made in Egypt in the time of Alexander the Great (Hist. Nat. XIII. 79), whereas, as is mentioned above, papyrus paper of fine quality was certainly made in Egypt nearly 2000 years before the time of Alexander, and probably much earlier.