But at length the invention of another manufacture, and the
interruption of commerce occasioned by the possession of Egypt by the
Saracens, banished the paper of Egypt from common use. Comparatively few
manuscripts on this material are found of later date than the eighth or
ninth century; though it continued to be occasionally used long
afterwards.
The charta bombycina or cotton paper, often improperly called _silk_
paper, was unquestionably manufactured in the east as early as the ninth
century, possibly much earlier; and in the tenth it came into general
use throughout Europe. This invention, not long afterwards, became still
more available for general purposes by the substitution of old linen or
cotton rags for the raw material; by which means both the price of the
article was reduced, and the quality improved. The cotton paper
manufactured in the ancient mode is still used in the east, and is a
beautiful fabric.
From this brief account of the materials successively employed for
books, it will be obvious, that a knowledge of the changes which these
several manufactures underwent will often serve, especially when
employed in subservience to other evidence, to ascertain the age of
manuscripts; or at least to furnish the means of detecting fabricated
documents.
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