paper

Ingredients

raw materials

Preparation Steps

Original Recipe Text

The material practice of papermaking was shaped by the regional availability and cultural preference of raw materials (p. 9). The production process was transformed in various local environments through the application of specific technologies, including human-powered, water-powered, or wind-powered paper mills (p. 9). The technique transitioned into the Arab Mediterranean lands, where it eventually replaced traditional writing materials such as papyrus and parchment (p. 9).

Evidence

"Jonathan Bloom’s chapter provides a detailed account of the transfer of paper and papermaking from central China, where it emerged c. 200 BCE, through mercantile and missionary traffic via the Islamic lands to Europe in a journey that lasted more than a millennium and was only completed by the 1500s."

Remarks

The text describes the long-term spatial mobility and diffusion of paper from its origins in central China (c. 200 BCE) through Islamic territories to Europe, reaching completion by the 16th century (p. 9). This introduction summarizes Jonathan Bloom's findings, which highlight how the adoption of paper encouraged an 'extraordinary period of flourishing book-learning and scholarship' in the Islamic world (p. 9). It also addresses the Eurocentric myth that papermaking was learned from ancient Egypt, asserting instead its Chinese origin and Islamic mediation (p. 9).