“Know that in this city of Canbalu is the mint of the Great Sire: and it is organized in such a way that it can be said that the Great Khan is truly a perfect alchemist. Let me explain. He has the following coin made: he has the bark taken from a tree, or rather bark, from a mulberry tree, the tree whose leaves the silkworms eat; and he has the thin film that is between the bark and the stem removed; those films are all black: they crush them, crush them and then mix them with glue so that the result is a kind of cotton paper, thin like that of papyrus".
-Marco Polo, “The Million”
Paper was born as a tool to communicate information quickly. The intrinsic characteristics of lightness, ease of use and cost-effectiveness have allowed its constant development up to the present day. Paper was fundamental for the circulation of knowledge, contributing to the progress and birth of different cultures.
The invention of paper is attributed to Ts'ai Lun, a dignitary of the Chinese imperial court who, during the 2nd century AD, produced the first examples, using scraps of used cloth, tree bark and fishing nets, supplanting thus papyrus and parchment, the most common supports for writing at the time. Thanks to paper, Chinese culture developed and spread, although its use was limited to the richest and most cultured social classes of the population.
In 751 AD, the Arab world also began producing paper, thanks to the wide availability of hemp and flax. This allowed its widespread diffusion in the Middle East and in the Iberian Peninsula, under Arab domination.
In the fourteenth century, the production and use of paper also took hold in Europe, but it was from the fifteenth century, with the invention of movable type printing, that the demand for paper grew.
And in Italy? The paper makers of Fabriano, a small town in the Marche region, played a fundamental role in the manufacturing and innovation of the product, using linen and hemp.
Despite technological evolution with the invention of tactile devices, paper still plays an important role. There are various types of it, with different uses and consistency. Cartografica Visceglia selects the best paper to obtain a quality product in line with customer expectations.
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