For those interested in paper here are some pictures of a map that illustrates the spread of papermaking from China to the rest of the world. It is interesting to note that China was in sole possession of this craft for 5 centuries before it spread to Korea. It took only 5 more centuries before papermaking reached Europe (Spain) in the 12th century.

What do the dates mean? They have Florida as 1900. I think there was paper here before that. But I could be wrong

Hi Gatorade,
The dates on the map (with a few exceptions) indicate the earliest recorded papermaking.
So paper used in Florida before 1900 would have been made elsewhere.

Regards,
J

That's nice. Rhode Island as 1746.

I'm pretty sure Ponce De Leon needed paper in 1513 to send a postcard to the queen in Spain that read; "Florida, wish you were here!".

I'm interested to see that 1494 is the earliest date of papermaking in England, since paper was in increasingly widespread use there throughout the 15th century.

Best

Michael

Exactly Michael,

I looked up some dates, and by 1487 most European countries adopted printing, and large quantities of paper were consumed in this endeavor.

You may be interested to know that the first recorded use of paper in England was 1309, and the first mill was established in England by John Tate in Hertfordshire.


Regards,
Jeen

Thanks, Jeen. Do you have a date for John Tate? I can't find much on the web.

My understanding is that the cost of paper declined by a factor of about 10 in England in the 15th c. It was being used for manuscripts before the introduction of printing, and was probably an enabling technology for the spread of printing. You could print on parchment, but if you need one sheep for every four pages, the spread of books is still going to be slow.

Best

Michael

Michael,

The only thing i could find was that John Tate established the first mill in 1495, and
the first printer to make use of Tate paper was Wnyken de Worde in the English edition of Bartholomaeus: De propetatibus rerum, 1496. His watermark was a wheel (presumably a water wheel) with his initials JT beneath.

Regards,
Jeen

Jeen, that is a really neat print!! Can I ask wherever did you find it??

AND your new avatar is very spiffy!! Is is one of your original creations or something you really received? Looks very nice!!

I think he said " Florida ,I am getting younger everyday. " The first Real Estate Promoter willing to stretch the truth....

That evokes an image of printing directly on the sheep. You'd have a self-propelled traveling library.