3. The ‘secret’ spreads north
In Europe the use of papyrus had begun to decline in the 9th century, partly replaced by imports of paper from Arab trading centres such as Damascus, but largely replaced by the use of parchment – smoothed and scraped animal skins. Although a fine material, it was very expensive and available only in limited quantities (it has been estimated that a single bible hand-written on parchment required the skins of 300 sheep).
Even when paper began to be made across Europe, its widespread use was hampered by ‘political’ problems. Partly due to its perceived Muslim origin and partly because of the influence of the wealthy landowners with financial interests in sheep and cattle, a Papal Decree of 1221 declared that all official documents produced on paper were invalid. Not until the 15th century would paper begin to be widely used for all documents.
When Johann Gutenberg perfected movable type and printed his famous bible between 1454 and 1455, he not only spread the word of Christianity, but also sparked the first revolution in mass communication.
The birth of the modern paper and printing industry is commonly marked from this date although it was to be another 250 years before western ingenuity turned the promise into a reality.
1. A thousand years from East to West
Paper as we know it today first appeared in China nearly two thousand years ago. Although the word paper is derived from the papyrus used over 5000 years ago in Egypt, the two are only loosely connected.
2. Paper moves westward
It wasn’t until the 3rd century that the secret art of papermaking began to creep out of China, first to Vietnam and then Tibet. It was introduced into Korea in the 4th century and spread to Japan by the 6th century where, during the 8th century, the Empress Shotoku undertook a massive project to print a million prayers on individual sheets of paper, each mounted in its own pagoda.
3. The ‘secret’ spreads north
From its introduction into Europe, the ‘secret’ of papermaking slowly made its way northward hampered by a variety of political, economic and religious vested interests and protectionism.
4. The Fourdrinier Paper Machine
With the ever increasing demands that the new Industrial Revolution was creating for communication, the mechanisation of papermaking became a priority – in keeping with the spirit of the new age.
5. The cylinder mould machine
Meanwhile, in 1809 at Apsley Mill next door to Frogmore Mill, John Dickinson installed and patented a different kind of paper machine. Instead of pouring a dilute pulp suspension on to an endlessly revolving flat wire as in the Fourdrinier process, this machine used a cylinder covered in wire as a mould.
6. Papermaking in the UK
The earliest know English document written on paper is dated 1309. However, paper was not to be made in England until over 150 years later. The first recorded paper mill in the United Kingdom was Sele Mill near Hertford owned by John Tate. Founded around 1488, this mill was visited by King Henry VII some 10 years later and a report of it was printed by Wynken de Worde. Sheets bearing John Tate’s watermark have been found in books printed in 1494.
7. From Rags to Riches
The increasing demands for more paper during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries led to shortages of the rags needed to produce the paper. Part of the problem was that no satisfactory method of bleaching pulp had yet been devised, and so only white rags could be used to produce white paper. Chlorine bleaching was being used by the end of the eighteenth century, but excessive use produced papers that were of poor quality and deteriorated quickly
