Idaho semi-weekly world. [volume] (Idaho City, Idaho Territory) 1875-1908, 1889-03-08
FACTS ABOUT PAPER.


some Interesting Historical Notes O.
cerning It's OrIgfns
We have rnked up the following facts
from a few musty tones, which We
TRUST, will please numerous CORES
pondents. and prove as interesting 70
them as 1t has been Iaborious for Us to
unearth them. 1t Is not known when
paper was first made from linen rags,
nor to whom we owe the invention.
DR.. Prideaux is Of the opinion that
linen paper was brought from the East,
because many Of the Oriental manu-
scripts are written upon it. Mabilon il
Of the opinion that the Invention be-
longs to the twelfth century. One Of
the earliest specimens OF paper from
linen rags yet discovered is docu-
Inent, with the seal preserved, bearing
date A. y. 1889, signed by Adolphus,
Count of Schaumourg. Casiri, how
ever, asserts that there are in the Is
curiai a number OF manuscripts, both
upon cotton and linen paper, which
we're written prior to the thirteenth
century. The invention was early in
/
in existence Of John Cranden, Prior
of Ely. made on linen paper, bear date
! in the fourteenth year Of the reign OF
King Edward H., A. D. 1889; and lin the
Cottonian Library are said to be several
writings on this kind Of paper as early
as the year 1885. Some twenty years
ago Mr.. Thomas Wright. in note to
Z r ~ II L
made little discovery, which, Think,
will be considered curious in the his
/ tory of paper. / believe that the first
traces OF the use Of paper in Western
Europe are found toward tho end Of
the twelfth century and we have no
reason to suppose that it was in use in
England until the thirteenth or the
beginning of the fourteenth. 1t Is un-
derstood to have been brought west
ward from Italy, whore it was in use
earlier; aud | believe that our word
paper-a corruption, of course. of
4 papyrus-is considered to have been
borrowed, with the article itself, from
the French I saw. years ago in Paris
Il believe they belonged to the royal
collection Git was in the time of Louis
Phillippe)-a few of the earliest docu-
ments on paper known, belonging to
Western Europe, in the period since
the Romans, which interested me much.
They consisted of receipts, or rather.
bonds, for money borrowed from the
Jews in the time of Cnur de Lion.
given by chiefs who were starting for
his crusade, and. if | remember well.
the paper resembled much that of the
fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, except
that it was Of a rather coarse texture. 1t
would seem as If, in the West, its use at
this early period was known principally
among the Jews. Now / am just pass
ing through the press an edition OF
glossary of Latin and English-or, as
we are accustomed to call it, Anglo
Saxon-words of. think, not later than
the middle of the tenth century. We
may safely look upon it as the English
of the days of Athelstan: and in the part
, of which l have just received the proof
: find papyrus. paper. The word
paper does not occur in DIR. Bos-
worth S, or any other Anglo-Saxon
dictionary, but we have here evidence
that it was in use in our language at a
very early period and there cannot be
a doubt that we derive it from the An
glo-Saxon aud have not taken it from
the French of the Middle Ages. Bui
this fact leads us to another, namely
;, that our Anglo-Saxon forefathers. Il
have the word in an Anglo-Saxon form
in their own language. must have beef
pretty we'll acquainted with paper it
self, and no doubt they found tn
Roman paper in use on the ISLAM
when they came. 1t Is a fact, indeed
which opens to US several others
: equally new, in the social history o
our Anglo-Saxon forefathers. l nee'
u hardly add that paper probably neve
went entirely out OF use in Wester1
Europe after the Roman times, and
: little research might still throw som
curious light upon its history during
the early Middle Ages. 1t certainl
d was not supposed before that it Nigh
: be in use among the Anglo-Saxons- -
"a The Papsr MI.