
The History of Paper - ogogmad
https://www.papersizes.org/paper-history-overview.htm
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keiferski
I was reading _In Praise of Shadows_ (1933) by Japanese author Jun'ichirō
Tanizaki recently, and his comments on paper made me want to go out and buy
some vellum or other expensive paper to use for mundane, everyday notes and
to-do lists.

 _Paper, I understand, was invented by the Chinese; but Western paper is to us
no more than something to be used, while the texture of Chinese paper and
Japanese paper gives us a certain feeling of warmth, of calm and repose. Even
the same white could as well be one color for Western paper and another for
our own. Western paper turns away the light, while our paper seems to take it
in, to envelop it gently, like the soft surface of a first snowfall. It gives
off no sound when it is crumpled or folded, it is quiet and pliant to the
touch as the leaf of a tree._

It's a really good essay, I highly recommend reading it if you have any
interest in architecture, art, or the differences between traditional Japanese
culture and the (circa 1933) West.

[https://misfitsarchitecture.com/wp-
content/uploads/2017/02/I...](https://misfitsarchitecture.com/wp-
content/uploads/2017/02/In-Praise-of-Shadows-Junichiro-Tanizaki.pdf)

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_Praise_of_Shadows](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_Praise_of_Shadows)

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Multicomp
I can't speak to whether this is the paper referenced above, but a Hobonichi
Techo planner using Tomoe River Paper is amazing in how thin it is, yet it
resists ghosting (ink showthrough) like a champion.

I do wish you could get good Japanese paper in hardbound journals, something
like Vela Sciences, but with Japanese paper.

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bigpumpkin
Here's a chart of the historical real price of books in England which showed
that paper decreased the cost of books by a factor of 2.

[https://aiimpacts.org/wp-
content/uploads/2019/10/RealPrice-1...](https://aiimpacts.org/wp-
content/uploads/2019/10/RealPrice-1024x768.png)

Then later the printing press decreased the price by another order of
magnitude.

~~~
Isamu
What a great graph! That is very enlightening, thank you for sharing.

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29athrowaway
Wax tablets were also a writing surface, and are worth mentioning.

> It was from Morocco that paper spread into Europe, via the Iberian penisula,
> in the 11th century.

Also known as Al-Andalus, or Islamic Spain. Perhaps the most influential force
in the history of Europe. The ones that brought paper, philosophical and
scientific literature, the scientific method, higher education, secularism,
free trade, their architecture, etc.

At the time they were the torchbearers of knowledge.

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felipemnoa
>>Wax tablets were also a writing surface, and are worth mentioning.

Not paper

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29athrowaway
Parchments were also not paper and they're mentioned in the article.
Parchments are leather.

