When that was still admits of some difficulty. Pliny says that Varro writes it came not into general use till after the conquest of Egypt by Alexander; yet it is plain from Anacreon[5], Alcæus, Æschylus, and the comic poets, that it was known in their time. Plato and Aristotle speak of it also, so do Herodotus and Theophrastus[6]. We also know it was of old in use among the Ionians, who probably brought it in very early days directly from Egypt. Numa, too, who lived 300 years before Alexander, is said to have left a number of books wrote on the papyrus, which a long time after his death were found at Rome.
All this might very well be; the writers of those early ages were but few, and those that then were, had all of them, more or less, connection by their learning with Egypt; it was to them only Egypt was known, and if they learned to write there, it was not improbable, that from thence too they adopted the materials most commodious for writing upon.
With Aristotle began the first arrangement of a library. Alexander’s conquest, and the building of Alexandria, laid open Egypt, its trade and learning, to the world. Papyrus then, or the paper made from it, was the only materials made use of for writing upon. A violent desire of amassing books, and a library, immediately followed, which we may safely attribute to the example set by Aristotle.
The Ptolemies, and the kings of Pergamus, contended who should make the largest collection. The Ptolemies, masters of Egypt and of the papyrus, availed themselves of this monopoly to hinder the multiplication of books in Greece. The other princes probably smuggled this plant, and propagated it wherever it would grow out of Egypt. And Eumenes king of Pergamus set about bringing to perfection the manufacture of parchment, which, long before, the Ionians had used from the scarcity of paper; for whatever resemblance there might be in names, or whatever may be inferred from them, writing upon skins or parchment was much more ancient than any city or state in Greece and in use probably before Greece was inhabited. The Jews we know made use of it in the earliest ages. At this very time which we are now speaking of, we learn from Josephus[7], that the elders, by order of the high priest, carried a copy of the law to Ptolemy Philadelphus in letters of gold upon skins, the pieces of which were so artfully put together that the joinings did not appear.
The ancients divided this plant into three parts, the head and the small part of the stalk were cut off, then the woody part, or bottom, and the root connected with it, and there remained the middle. All these had separate uses. Pliny[8] says the upper part, which supported the large top itself, with the flowers upon it, was of no sort of use but to adorn the temples, and crown the statues of the gods; but it would seem that it was in use likewise for crowning men of merit. Plutarch[9] says, that Agesilaus preferred being crowned with that to any other, on account of its simplicity, and that parting from the king he had sought to be crowned with this as a favour, which was granted him. Athenæus[10], on the contrary, laughed at those that mixt roses in the crown of papyrus, and he says it is as ridiculous as mixing roses with a crown of garlic. The reason, however, he gives does not hold, for papyrus itself smells no more of mud, as he supposes, than a rose-bush; nay, the flower of the papyrus has something agreeable in its smell, though not so much so as roses. If he had said that the head of the papyrus resembled withered grass or hay, and made a bad contrast with the richness and beauty of the rose, he had said well. But notwithstanding what Pliny has written, the head of the papyrus was employed, not only to make crowns for statues of the gods, but also to make cables for ships. We are told that Antigonus made use of nothing else for ropes and cables to his fleets, before the use of spartum, or bent-grass, was known, which, though very little better, still serves that purpose in small ships on the coast of Provence to this day. The top of the papyrus was likewise used for sewing and caulking the vessels, by forcing it into the seams, and afterwards covering it with pitch.
Pliny[11] tells us, that the whole plant together was used for making boats, a piece of the acacia tree being put in the bottom to serve as the keel, to which plants were joined, being first sewed together, then gathered up at stem and stern, and the ends of the plant tied fast there, “Conseritur bibula Memphitis cymba papyro;” and this is the only boat they still have in Abyssinia, which they call Tancoa, and from the use of these it is that Isaiah describes the nations, probably the Egyptians, upon whom the vengeance of God was speedily to fall. I imagine also that the junks of the Red Sea, said to be of leather, were first built with papyrus and covered with skins. In these the Homerites trafficked with their friends the Sabeans across the mouth of the Red Sea, but they can never persuade me, however generally and confidently it has been asserted, that vessels of this kind could have lived an hour upon the Indian ocean.
The bottom, root, or woody part of this plant, was likewise of several uses before it turned absolutely hard; it was chewed in the manner of liquorice, having a considerable quantity of sweet juice in it. This we learn from Dioscorides; it was, I suppose, chewed, and the sweetness sucked out in the same manner as is done with sugar-cane. This is still practised in Abyssinia, where they likewise chew the root of the Indian corn, and of every kind of cyperus; and Herodotus tells us, that about a cubit of the lower part of the stalk was cut off and roasted over the fire, and eaten.
From the scarcity of wood, which was very great in Egypt for the reasons I have already mentioned, this lower part was likewise used in making cups, moulds, and other necessary utensils; we need not doubt too, one use of the woody part of this plant was to serve for what we call boards or covers for binding the leaves, which were made of the bark; we know that this was anciently one use of it, both from Alcæus and Anacreon.
In a large and very perfect manuscript in my possession, which was dug up at Thebes, the boards are of papyrus root, covered first with the coarser pieces of the paper, and then with leather, in the same manner as it would be done now. It is a book one would call a small folio, rather than by any other name, and I apprehend that the shape of the book where papyrus is employed was always of the same form with those of the moderns. The letters are strong, deep, black, and apparently written with a reed, as is practised by the Egyptians and Abyssinians still. It is written on both sides, so never could be rolled up as parchment was, nor would the brittleness of the materials when dry, support any such frequent unrolling. This probably arises from their having first written upon papyrus, after the use of stone was laid aside, and only adopted skins upon their embracing the Jewish religion. The Ethiopians, indeed, write upon parchment, yet use the same form of books as we do. The outer boards are made of wood and covered with leather. It was the law only they say they were in use to preserve in one long roll of parchment, upon the foreside of which it was written; it being indecent and improper to write any part of it on the back, or a less honourable place of the skin: And such was the roll we have just mentioned as presented to Ptolemy, where such pains were taken in joining the several skins together, for this very reason.
The manner paper was made has been controverted; but whoever will read Pliny[12] attentively, cannot, as I imagine, be long in doubt. The thick part of the stalk being cut in half, the pellicle between the pith and the bark, or perhaps the two pellicles, were stript off, and divided by an iron instrument, which probably was sharp-pointed, but did not cut at the edges. This was squared at the sides so as to be like a ribband, then laid upon a smooth table or dresser, after being cut into the length that it was required the leaf should be. These stripes, or ribbands of papyrus, were lapped over each other by a very thin border, and then pieces of the same kind were laid transversely, the length of these answering to the breadth of the first. The book which I have is eleven inches and a half long, and seven inches broad, and there is not one leaf in it that has a ribband of papyrus of two inches and a half broad, from which I imagine the size of this plant, formerly being fifteen feet long, was pretty near the truth. No such plant, however, appears now; I do not remember to have ever seen one more than ten feet high. This is probably owing to their being allowed to grow wild, and too thick together, without being weeded; we know from Herodotus[13], that the Egyptians cut theirs down yearly as they did their harvest.