early paper produced in the Middle East

Preparation Steps

Original Recipe Text

The paper was cut into different lengths and sizes. When a piece of paper was too small for the text, the writing support was extended by adding another piece of paper, glued to the first, to produce a larger page (p. 69). This practice is observed in documents such as T-S B12.39, T-S 20.93, and T-S Ar.7.38 (p. 69).

Evidence

"Inspection of the paper has shown that it was characteristic of early paper produced in the Middle East: neither watermarks nor laid or chain lines could be observed."

Remarks

The paper used in the Geniza corpus is typical of early Middle Eastern production, lacking standard European paper features such as watermarks or laid/chain lines (p. 69). The early 11th century is identified as the period when paper became the standard writing surface for legal documents (p. 67). It represents the cheapest writing support available compared to parchment and leather, and it dominates the corpus for private and legal compositions (p. 70).