The Andalusian heritage. The role
The Islamic Empire gained its first knowledge of the art of papermaking after the battle of the Taraz River, in 133 H, following the capture of some soldiers from the Chinese Empire, which had developed the technique.
The first Islamic papermakers settled in Samarkand and used the Chinese method of papermaking, based on vegetable fibers. The new product was soon of great economic importance to the city and consolidated the first paper monopoly.
Samarkand paper, also known as Khurasan paper, improves the technique by using flax fibers as raw material. Soon, the technique spread to other territories of the Islamic Empire, and new trade routes for paper were opened. This was also closely related to the development of the caliphal administrative network and the flourishing of intellectual activity. With Harun al-Rashid in Baghdad, the use of paper in administration was consolidated, and papyrus or parchment ceased to be used.
From Baghdad, the expansion of paper is even greater, reaching the entire Arabian Peninsula, Persia and India and North Africa (the Maghreb), from where it is introduced to the Iberian Peninsula.
Spanish writers such as Ibn ‘Abd Rabbihi (860-940) describe paper and its use in the peninsula. We also know the catalog of the great Cordovan library of the caliph Al Hakam II, compiled in paper notebooks of 20 sheets each. However, the best known reference is the description of the geographer Al Idrisi, who praises the paper of Xàtiva (Valencia): “Shatiba is a beautiful city, with palaces and fortifications known for their beauty. It manufactures a paper of which there is no equal in the world, and which is known in the East and West”.
This paper was known and exported both to Islamic territories and to other European kingdoms. The paper factory of Xàtiva, the first in the peninsula, established in 1056 by Abu Masafiya, next to the main irrigation ditch, had more than 20 workers and manufactured paper from rags and ropes, shredded by the mill wheel, in colors ranging from white to green or crimson (a color recalled by Gala in “The Crimson Manuscript”). The finish of the paper, a sizing, gave it a highly appreciated satin look, which served to fix the ink properly.
In Valencia, in 1360, the Royal Chancery, under Pedro the Ceremonious, said that the paper it used was supplied by the “Valencian Moors”. There is also a record of a “Mursiya paper”. Soon, other large cities began to install paper mills, such as Cordoba, Valencia and Toledo.
The linen weaving industry and the waterworks (irrigation ditches, waterwheels, mills) existing in many cities of the peninsula guaranteed a constant supply of good quality paper. Soon, the book industry was flourishing in the peninsula, supported by the Islamic cultural tradition, where the Book of Books, the Koran, would be constantly copied.
Along with paper, other auxiliary industries emerged: writing inks and bookbinding. In the Andalusian civilization, just as we find papers of different colors, the writing inks also present a whole range: black, carbon or metallic, is the main one; next to it we find reds of vermilion, saffron or brazilwood; bluish green of lily flowers; green-grey of copper; etc.
Andalusian bindings go through several phases with different formats: landscape, like albums, in leather mounted on board; “portfolio” books, with a pentagonal flap, in leather mounted on cardboard. Andalusian skins varied in quality and finish, but were usually worked in reliefs featuring geometric motifs that could be colored. It was famous for the industry of the most elaborate and luxurious: cordobanes and guadamecíes.
Calligraphy and ornamentation are two other arts that will flourish throughout the Islamic empire and enrich its book culture. The different calligraphic styles, the headings with arabesques, characterize many of the most beautiful works that time has given us.
The flourishing of the book was also accompanied by the emergence of booksellers, al kutubiyyin, and entire neighborhoods devoted to the book trade, which also included the services of scribes and copyists, bookbinders, ornamental artists, librarians, etc.
We could not conceive our world today without many of the contributions bequeathed to us by the Arab-Muslim people, the book is a good example of this, a symbol of a culture that flourished through the word, a generous culture that bequeathed to us our purest essence. This brief paper aims to invite reflection on our past and our future, through the achievements of our ancestors and a better understanding of cultures that will help us face the challenges ahead.
To learn more about Andalusi paper
Valencian Paper Museum