medieval Arab papers

Ingredients

linen rags, undyed linen, linen dyed blue with indigo, hemp, reed, wool, silk, cotton

Preparation Steps

Original Recipe Text

The 1980 excavations at Fustat yielded approximately 3000 textile fragments from the eleventh century. Analysis showed 70% were coarse undyed linen, 12% linen dyed blue with indigo, and 8% heavy fabrics of linen, hemp, or reed. These materials were collected as refuse (rags) to be recycled into paper pulp (p. 59). In Islamic lands, the fibers were washed, soaked, fermented, or cooked, then beaten in water until they broke down into a uniform pulp (stuff) (p. 54).

Evidence

"Microscopic examination of medieval Arab papers occasionally reveals unprocessed threads and bits of cloth indicating that the pulp was made with rags, although other bits of unprocessed plant stalk may show that bast fibers were used as well. Archaeologists’ discoveries of piles of rags in the ruins of Fustat (Old Cairo) may have been left by ragmen who had collected them for papermakers to recycle."

Remarks

Many early Arab papers are decidedly tan or even brown because the only way to bleach fibers before the discovery of chlorine was sun exposure (p. 54). The presence of unprocessed threads confirms the use of rags rather than exclusively raw bast fibers (p. 59).