A Consumer's Guide to Paper From Vol. 22, No. 4 (April 2009)

On average, the American consumer uses nearly 700 pounds of paper yearly. A portion of that is attributed to newspapers, phone books, product packaging, and other uses where quality is of little importance, but when it comes to writing paper, it can be useful to know a bit about the various options-from the basic to the most luxurious.

- MARIE A. PICON

Is there any man-made material more humble or more glorious than paper? Papermaking is an ancient technology that transforms macerated plant fiber waste into the medium that has borne civilization’s greatest works of recorded history, literature, statesmanship, and scientific inquiry through the ages. In its major role in written communication, it has served humankind well—and is likely to continue to do so well into the future.

Papermaking in China dates to ancient times (roughly between 100 BCE and 100 CE), when hemp, bamboo, and other plant fibers were first beaten to pulp, suspended in water, then formed into sheets by straining the mash through a fine sieve. The technology spread slowly throughout Asia and into the Middle East over the next 900 years or so, but it would take even longer— another 500 years—for papermaking to take hold in Europe, where it would eventually eclipse the use of animal skins (in the form of parchment and vellum) as the primary medium of written and printed texts. European papermaking flourished beginning in the 15th century, its trajectory influenced by the rise of the printing press.