Before the invention of paper, in ancient times, a great variety of substances have been used for the purpose of recording events, or delineating ideas, of which it becomes our duty to give a somewhat detailed account, to show our readers the numerous advantages they enjoy, in having a material which, like everything in common use, is but little thought of. But let any one suppose himself to be without this necessary article, or the means of communicating his ideas, he would be sensible of the difference.

Rough stones and stakes were used as the first known records of the ancient Phoenicians, remains of which are reported to be still visible; and to confirm this persuasion, certain heaps of stones have been discovered in the environs of Cadiz, which are currently believed to be the remains of those monuments alleged to be made by Hercules, in memory of his famous expedition to the gardens of the Hesperides, for the golden fruit, or as others have it, against Spain. It is also stated, that the usual mode of recording great events, in the north of Asia and Europe, was by placing stones of extraordinary size; in aid of this, we have a great variety of instances.

Since the scriptural art has been introduced, or invented, many materials have been, in a variety of ages, and in numerous countries, used for the purpose of recording events to posterity; characters cut upon rocks, upon tables of stone, upon bark, pieces of wood, written upon skins of fish and animals, palm-leaves, besides a great variety of other articles, of which we will only enumerate a few.

There is a Bible still preserved, written on palm-leaves, in the University of Gottingen, containing 5,376 leaves. Another Bible, of the same material, is at Copenhagen. There was also, in Sir Hans Sloane’s collection, more than twenty manuscripts, in various languages, on the same material.

The protocols of the Emperors in early times were written upon bark. In the British Museum are many specimens of this substance; also in the grand Duke’s gallery at Florence.

To this mode is supposed to have succeeded the practice of painting letters on linen cloth and cotton; what was the difference in the preparation of that material to the one now employed is not ascertained, but it is considered that some preparation was necessary in order to use that substance. There have been frequently found in the chests or cases containing the Egyptian mummies, very neat characters written on linen. Linen being subject to accidents from becoming mouldy, &c., asbestoes cloth had been occasionally used in small quantities.

The accidents to which these species of materials were most of them subject, and linen particularly so, induced man to endeavour to remedy those objects; he accordingly is found to have recourse to the animal creation. In the convent of Dominican monks at Bologna, are two books of Esdras, written on asses’ skins, said to have been written by Esdras himself. The ancient Persians wrote on hides, from which the hair was scraped. The shepherds wrote their songs with thorns upon straps of leather, which they wound round their crooks.

The ancient Welch had a peculiar manner of writing upon small squared oblong pieces of wood, which they called billets, which name forms the appellative to numerous of their productions, as the “Billett of the Bard.”

The Italian kings, Hugo and Lotharis, gave a grant to the Ambrosian church, at Milan, written on the skin of a fish.

In the Alexandrian Library there were the works of Homer, written in golden letters on the skins of animals. In the reign of the Emperor Baliskus, the head and “Odyssey” of Homer, written in golden letters, on the intestines of beasts, one hundred and twenty feet long, were burned at Constantinople.

In the royal library at Hanover, there is a gold plate, written by an independent prince of Coromandel to George II., three feet long and four inches wide, inlaid on both sides with diamonds.

At last we have arrived at the period for the introduction of the Egyptian papyrus, a kind of rush of large dimensions, growing in the marshes on the banks of the Nile. This plant is described as growing in swamps to the height of fifteen feet; the stalk triangular, of a thickness to be spanned, surrounded near the root by short leaves; stalk naked, has on the top a bush resembling the head with hairs, or long thin straight fibres; root brown.

The Egyptian papyrus was manufactured into paper from very fine pellicles near its pith, separated by a pin or pointed mussel-shell spread on a table in such form as was required, sprinkled with Nile water; on the first layer a second layer was laid crosswise to finish the sheet, then pressed, hung to dry, and afterwards polished with a tooth. The Nile water was very carefully used to prevent spots. Twenty skins were the greatest number which could be procured from one plant. Those nearest the pith made the finest paper. Twenty sheets glued together were called scapus, but sometimes scapi went to form a volumen. This part of the business was executed by the glutinatoris, who resembled our bookbinders.

This plant yielded materials for making four sorts of paper.

With respect to other substances for the same purpose, there are many, but as most of these have one generic character, being manufactured from the bark of trees, the detail is not here given, as it might not, perhaps, be generally interesting, especially as nothing new appears in this respect.

With respect to the paper now in use, Dr. Blair says, the first paper-mill (in England, we suppose) was erected at Dartford, in the year 1588, by a German of the name of Spiellman; from which period we may, perhaps, date its manufacture in this country.

It appears, however, that it was known in the East, much earlier; it being observed that most of the ancient manuscripts in Arabic and other Oriental languages, were written upon cotton paper, and it is thought the Saracens first introduced it into Spain.

Anderson, in his “History of Commerce,” says, that till the year 1690, there was scarcely any paper made in England, but the coarse brown sort. Paper was previously imported from France, Genoa, and Holland.—However, the improvement of this article in England, in consequence of the French war, produced a saving to this country of £100,000 annually, which had been paid to France for paper alone.

After linen and cotton are so much worn as to be unfit for any other purpose, the several kinds are collected together, and the hard seams and other accumulations, which would require a much longer time to prepare proper for the general mass, than would be consistent with the economy of the whole, those shreds are then separated and thrown away; the different kinds are then collected and kept separate from each other. In such a state of separation they are laid in troughs, which are afterwards filled with water, where they are suffered to remain till a species of fermentation takes place; and the separation of the parts formed by art is not only rendered easy, but also, a division may be made of the most minute parts; the separation is then made by machinery. When properly prepared, a sufficient quantity is placed upon a wire frame, or otherwise one formed of cloth; by mechanical pressure, the moisture is extracted, after which the sheets are hung up separately on lines to dry, in a building properly constructed to admit a free circulation of air.

Manufacturers of paper, originally, could only use white rags to make white paper; but Mr. Campbell, in 1792, discovered a method of discharging any colour from rags, by bleaching with oxi-muriatic acid gas, for which he obtained a patent.

The next considerable improvement which appears to have been made in the manufacture of paper, consists in using felt or woollen cloth in conjunction with the wire cloth formerly used, and now of necessity retained, and other processes too voluminous to be inserted here.

The only remaining circumstance we have to mention is, that in the beginning of the present century there was manufactured, in the vicinity of London, a very good printing paper, made entirely from wheat straw; for which manufacture, the inventor obtained a patent, but he did not succeed, we presume, because it is now discontinued. Considerable quantities of paper is now made from straw in France; but it is of a yellow tinge. Paper made from linen is the best.