Paper-Making
an account of paper-making from its earliest
known record down to the present time by
J.W. Butler Paper Company 1901
parchment, the use of which in diplomas and certain public
documents continues to the present time. As the story runs, the
invention of the new writing material was due to the spirit of
rivalry between two cities of the ancient world. Attalus, king of
Pergamus, was anxious to establish in his capital a library that
would excel the splendid collection at Alexandria, but Egypt,
having a monopoly of papyrus, refused to sell to him. But no
monopoly of that day or this could ever control all the means of
supplying man's needs. Nature is resourceful, and man, when
driven by necessity, soon learns that her treasures are practically
limitless. When the supply of one article is for any reason
curtailed, she furnishes something as good or better to take its
place. If all the paper in the world to-day were owned by a
monopoly that refused to sell, something would speedily be
found to take its place. So the inhabitants of Pergamus, being
refused papyrus, set about manufacturing a substitute, which
came to be known among the Romans as "pergamena," from
which comes our word parchment.
with lime, and afterward stretched upon frames, where their thickness was reduced by paring and scraping them with
sharp instruments. To obtain the fine, uniform, velvety surface characteristic of the best parchment it was necessary
to sprinkle the skin with chalk, and rub and polish it with fine pumice-stones, which not only smoothed and softened
the leather, but also improved its color. When it had been reduced to about half its original thickness, it was dried for
use. Vellum, which still represents the acm of luxury in bookbinding, was made in a similar manner, from the skins of
young calves. As early as 1085 B.C., the Hebrews wrote on the skins of animals, and it is believed that the Medes, at
about the same period, used a substance resembling parchment, and prepared in a similar manner, the cost of land
carriage being too great to admit of any extensive introduction of papyrus into western Asia. "For public documents,
the rock, and for private, the pen and the prepared skin, seem to have been preferred by them, and in the earlier
times, at any rate, they employed no other materials," For many years parchment was used in England for all deeds of
real estate, and so lengthy were these documents that it was said it took a flock of sheep to convey an acre of land
or make a marriage settlement. As the age of stone, the carved obelisk, the clay tablet, and other crude materials
was outgrown, so was that of papyrus and parchment. With the next step forward came paper, and the
improvements in its manufacture with regard to quality variety, and increase of production, have kept pace with the
varying and growing demands. It is not given us to know what the future may bring forth, but paper seems likely to
hold sway until the end of time.