The literature of papermaking is sparse until the mid-eighteenth century, when the French writers Jérôme Lalande, Louis-Jacques Goussier, and Nicolas Desmarest began documenting the craft in their country. The absence of details from earlier periods is no doubt a result of trade secrecy, the habit of passing skills directly to family members or in-laws rather than to outsiders, and the lack of ability, time, or need to document the craft in writing.

 

As a result, what follows is in part generalization and in part hypothesis. Generalizations are dangerous. Attempting to describe the methods used to make paper in Europe between 1300 and 1800 in a short essay such as this is like trying to describe the methods used to make cheese throughout the continent during the same period. The raw materials, local conditions, routines, and traditions were almost certainly very diverse. But a generalization, once understood as such, is probably the best way we have of looking back over the past, especially if the subject is new to us. To hypothesize is dangerous as well, but if the hypothesis is based on knowledge and expertise, it can add considerably to our general sense of what actually transpired.

 

In summary, what follows is a guess, based on limited research, about what may have been the routine in a mill producing high-quality papers somewhere in Europe between 1300 and 1800. If this text broadens the reader's view of the craft only a bit, raises new questions, and inspires new research, it will be ample reward for the effort.

 

Due to the lack of transparency and sizing standards at the time of manufacture, tissue paper is less and less suitable for the printing industry, and the real copy color paper will not be replaced by fake copy paper such as tissue paper. The two papermaking processes are roughly the same, and the difference lies in the different standards of papermaking. Copy paper is a kind of advanced cultural industrial paper with high difficulty in production. Its technical characteristics are as follows: high physical strength, excellent uniformity and transparency, good surface properties, fine, flat, smooth, bubble-free sand. Good printability. Good transparency, as an example of 17g/m2 copy paper, can typically cover up to 6 to 8 layers. Extremely fine to reach 12 layers can see the existence of transparency.