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THE MAKING OF EUROPE / EARLY EUROPEAN HISTORY

From Hutton Webster's, Early European History (1917); edited for this on-line publication, by ELLOPOS

Em. Macron, Rediscovering the Path to Europe

» Contents of this Chapter

Meaning of the Renaissance   * Revival of Learning in Italy   * Paper and Printing   * Revival of Art in Italy   * Revival of Learning and Art beyond Italy   * The Renaissance in Literature   * The Renaissance in Education   * The Scientific Renaissance   * The Economic Renaissance

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PAPER AND PRINTING

PRINTED BOOKS

The revival of learning was greatly hastened when printed books took the place of manuscripts laboriously copied by hand. Printing is a complicated process, and many centuries were required to bring it to perfection. Both paper and movable type had to be invented.

INTRODUCTION OF PAPER

The Chinese at a remote period made paper from some fibrous material. The Arabs seem to have been the first to make linen paper out of flax and rags. The manufacture of paper in Europe was first established by the Moors in Spain. The Arab occupation of Sicily introduced the art into Italy. Paper found a ready sale in Europe, because papyrus and parchment, which the ancients had used as writing materials, were both expensive and heavy. Men now had a material moderate in price, durable, and one that would easily receive the impression of movable type.

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Cf. Jacob Burckhardt's, The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy

THE MAKING OF EUROPE / EARLY EUROPEAN HISTORY: Table of Contents

url: www.ellopos.net/politics/european-history/default.asp

IN PRINT

Cf. The Ancient Greece * The Ancient Rome
Eastern Roman Empire (Byzantium) * Western Medieval Europe * Renaissance in Italy