Papyrus
The first paper like material was used in Egypt as early as 2600 B.C. This substance was made from a reedy plant called papyrus that grows abundantly along the Nile River in Egypt. The people in Egypt adapted this plant for use in many items including mattresses, mats, rope, sandals, and paper because of its massive quantity in their country. This plant is still used among swampy communities where it grows for fuel, housing material and clothing.
Papyrus is made from the stem of the Cyperus papyrus plant. First, the outer rind is stripped off and the inner pith is exposed. This pith is cut lengthwise into strips. The strips were possibly soaked in water to help adhesion with one another. The strips were placed on a hard surface, horizontally and slightly overlapped. The overlapping would ensure that the strips stuck to one another. Then, another set of strips would be placed at a right angle (vertically) and also slightly overlapping. When the sheets were finished, the two layers would be hammered together. This would help form the layers into one single sheet. The sheet was then dried under pressure between two hard surfaces. After the sheet was completely dry, it would be polished with a round object such as a stone or a rounded piece of wood. This would relieve the rough spots enough that writing could be done. However, the writing surface was still hard to predict and didn’t absorb the writing media well.
The papyrus plant was abundant and easy to produce into paper. However, it was quite fragile. The papyrus was susceptible to moisture and excessive dryness and would crack and tear easily. In the dry climate of Egypt, papyrus was quite stable because it is made of cellulose that is highly rot resistant. However, storage in humid conditions can result in mold and decomposition. These, among others, are the reasons that papyrus writings have been discovered in Egypt, but are not found in other European countries where it might have been used. The earliest purchase of papyri by European visitors to Egypt is thought to be 1778. However, a papyrus writing would not have survived more than 200 years in European conditions. The climate in these countries was not conducive to the survival of this papyrus.
Shortly after its first use, papyrus was made into rolls (or scrolls) for recording and journaling events. These scrolls were hard to manage and cracked upon rolling, so they were quickly transformed into a codex. A codex is the ancestor to the modern book. Sheets of papyrus were bound together to make the document more readily accessible than the previous roll. Portions of the gospels in the Bible have been found on papyrus codices.
Important papyrus finds are still being made in Egypt today. These include the journals of Julius Caesar’s father-in-law, Lucius Calpurnius Piso Caesoninus, who was an important statesman in ancient Rome. His papyrus works survived the explosion of Mount Vesuvius, but have only been partially excavated.