2021 Volume 75 Issue 9 Pages 840-848
The Islamic Empire which rapidly expanded its territory, starting from the Arabian Peninsula, collided with the Tang dynasty which enlarged its control over central Asia at the Talas River. Due to their direct contact, the paper making technology was transferred to the Islamic society.
Abbasid Caliphate made use of paper enthusiastically to govern its large territory and to civilize society around. In 300 years since the Talas war, paper production even spread to the Iberia Peninsular. A book market was born and prosperous in Bagdad. It moved to Damascus after the devastation by Mongol. After the Timur occupation of Damascus, Cairo became the center. In the 13th century, Italian who got the production know-how exported paper to Islamic world. Then, the Islamic production and book market was prosperous in Iran in the 14 century and on.
The Islamic paper was made of linen rag from fax, which was beaten using wheel power. After sheet-forming, the sheet was air-dried. Then, it was coated several times with slurry of wheat powder to make its surface hard enough for pen-writing.
The paper, in the beginning, was accepted to write Koran on it. Then, encouraged by Abbasid Caliphate, book production, mostly hand-copied, exponentially increased, as civilizations such as Heroinism and Indian’s were translated and Islamic civirization itself developed finely such as in mathematics, commerce and so on. The 14th century was regarded as its golden age.