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AD 610

Chinese papermaking techniques reached Korea at an early date and were introduced to Japan in the year 610. In these two countries, paper is still made by hand on a large scale in the old tradition, preferably from the fresh bast fibres of the mulberry tree (kozo in Japanese). Following the cooking process, the long, uncut fibres are merely prepared by beating, which gives the paper its characteristic look and excellent quality. The latter is due, among other things, to multiple, rapid immersions of the mould, which results in a multi-layer fibre mat.

Very soon, knowledge of papermaking spread to Central Asia and Tibet and then on to India. When the Arabs, in the course of their eastern expansion, neared Samarkan they too became acquainted with the production of paper and paper mills were subsequently set up in Baghdad, Damascus and Cairo, and later in Morocco, Spain and Sicily. Owing to the lack of fresh fibres, the raw material used by the Arabs was made almost entirely from rags: however, their defective and poorly designed processing equipment (such as breaker mills) produced a rather inferior ground pulp. But, by using this method, with screens made of reeds, thin sheets were made and then ‘coated’ with starch paste. This gave Arabian paper its good writing properties and fine appearance.

The export of Arabian-made paper, along with the secrets of its production, to Europe, especially to Italy, has been well documented. From the 13th century onwards, papermakers at two early Italian centres, Fabriano and Amalfi, tried to improve the Arabian technique. Their efforts focused not on the raw material but on its preparation and the actual papermaking process was improved. The Italian papermakers developed:

	the use of water power
	the stamping mill (derived from the stampers and milling machines used in textile handicrafts)
	the mould made of wire mesh (as a result of progress in wire production), which triggered the introduction of couching on felt
	the paper press (screw press) with slides for feeding in the material
	drying the sheets on ropes
	dip sizing