The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1921-12-11
HISTORY OF PAPER
MAKING OUTLINED
FROM ITS ORIGIN
Chinese First Made 1t
But Later Gave the
Secret to Arabs.

What is one of the most impor-
tsnt and yet insignahcant-lookIn
objects in the world?
What is it that we have today
mat we think little or nothing of
because 1t is so common and yet
which worked the biggest change
In the history of mankind that any
Invention ever did?
It is a piece of paper The size,
color, quality or use has nothing
at all TO do with it, 1t is just pa
per.
How did we come to have II and
where did IL come from and who
first made It?
History tells that the Chinese
first made paper. That is probably
correct We have no way Of prov
ing that this is not so, and the
reason we can not Is because no
body at the time had any paper or
knew what it was but the Chinese
We have learned that some of the
Chinese were foolish enough in ISL
3. c. to attack some Arab Moslems
near Samarkand and get whipped
for their trouble. The Arabs cap
tured some expert paper makers
IN the defeat of their pig-tailed
enemies, and these paper makers,
IN order to save their necks. told
the Arabs about their art and were
allowed to make and demonstrate
the uses OF paper.
However. paper making on a
scale large enough to allow the or
binary Arab to use il was not ac-
complished until a long time after
the defeat Of the Chinese-the date
being somewhere in the ninth CEN
tury. when manuscripts written in
the Arabic language made their ap-
pearance. By casual contact with
the Arabs. the Greeks caught onto
paper making and carried the art to
Greece. Paper making was also
practiced in Spain, when the Moors
overran the southern part of that
country. When the Christians re-
captured Southern Spain from the
Noors they. too. began paper max
ing. as they captured the Moorish
paper mills. But the Christians
lacked the patience and natural
Tkil OF the Moor. and. consequently.
they turned out a very poor prod
net
u was not until the end OF the
thirteenth century that paper really
worthy Of the name was made. and
then the Italians made the best and
I'D monopoly on II.
During the fourteenth century
the Germans caught onto the art
and as is their habit today they
improved on something that some
body else started. It was not until
The Germans had mastered all that
was known about paper making in
those DAYS and experimental with
IL themselves that did paper really
became cheap enough to use for
making books.
Then. of course. We next turn to
writing and printing on paper-for
right here is the greatest use of
paper ever devised There has
been a lot Of argument and discus
sion about who did the first print
ing, but as near as we can get II,
some one In Holland did il. We
learn that man named Coster
was printing books in the town OF
Uaarlem. in Holland, some time be-
fore the year 14ts, and he was
using movable type.
The next mar we hear about is
Gutenberg. a German, who began
the printing of the first Bible in
Mainz somewhere about the same
time Coster was printing his books.
Fv 1855 the Italians had learned to
print and by 1877 Caxton set up a
printing press in Westminster, Eng
land and then the printing art
began to spread rapidly over Eu-
rope and gradually spread some
what into Asia. The first kind OF
type used. as you know, was made
OF wood.
After the art OF printing i'm
proved sufficiently to allow the
working man to buy a book, then
the great change in civilization be-
gan and has continued to this day
For the first time In the history OF
the world, one man could let thou