I never imagined I'd enjoy pondering PAPER this much!
Posted: Wed Dec 16, 2015 2:09 am
I’ve recently had a dearth of topics to research in the interest of better visualizing Middle-earth, and as I didn't want to derail Greg's recent crafting update (groovy knife, by the way!), I spent an evening looking up references and writing up a new essay.
Leading Question, courtesy of Elleth: “Do we have textual support for paper in our area of Middle-earth, or would they have been using (hide) parchment?â€
With this intriguing question point in mind, I combed my resources for references to paper, books, scrolls, letters, &c, and came up with an interesting picture.
Let’s start with a brief discussion of writing materials.
The earliest material that humans have used to encode information was clay, which would be impressed while wet (with a stylus or stamp) and could then be fired, fixing the message permanently. The Sumerian cuneiform is generally held up as the first writing system, though the ‘Vinca symbols’ of southeast Europe—which significantly predate the Mesopotamian system—are considered by some to be a ‘proto-writing’ system.
Paper is a writing material made from shredded-and-flattened cellulose fibers and originates in Han dynasty China (~200BCE-200CE); it eventually spread through Asia and entered Europe through contact with the Islamic sphere in the ~700s CE.
Paper is etymologically derived from papyrus, a thicker Egyptian material that dates from at least the 2500s BCE. Papyrus is not a true paper, however, as it is made by laying thin layers of sedge pith at right angles and then gluing or smashing together.
Both of these are in contrast to parchment, a scraped and stretched animal skin, which can include vellum, though that tends to be finer material. Parchment was known and used in Europe at least as early as classical Greece (400s BCE).
Although the late Third Age corresponds to approximately 4,000 BCE, both paper and parchments were known and used by various cultures in Middle-earth.
Parchment is specifically mentioned in relation to Gondor, and could be found in both books (bound sheets) and scrolls:
“‘We in the house of Denethor know much ancient lore by long tradition, and there are moreover in our treasuries many things preserved: books and tablets writ on withered parchments, yea, and on stone, and on leaves of silver and of gold, in divers characters†(Bk4 Ch5);
“In the night [Pippin] was wakened by a light, and he saw that Gandalf had come and was pacing to and fro in the room beyond the curtain of the alcove. There were candles on the table and rolls of parchment.†(Bk5 Ch1)
(Although it is nowhere mentioned in Tolkien, given its Numenorean heritage and Mediterannean climate/locale, I would not be surprised to find examples of papyrus in the archives of Gondor.)
Animal-derived writing materials were also apparently used by Dwarves, as Thror’s map of Erebor is described as “a piece of parchment rather like a map†(TH Ch1). We do not know what the other Third Age dwarvish document, the Book of Mazarbul, was written on; we read how when it was handled, “the leaves crackled and brokeâ€, but I do not know if this should be taken as evidence of parchment, or if it is simply a result of the abuse it suffered (“slashed and stabbed and partly burnedâ€), followed by 30 years of abandonment (Bk2 Ch5).
Finally, there may be a precedent for parchment use by hobbits, although not, apparently, by those of the late Third Age. As we read in Appendix D, “Not many ancient documents were preserved in the Shire. At the end of the Third Age far the most notable survival was Yellowskin, or the Yearbook of Tuckborough. Its earliest entries seem to have begun at least nine hundred years before Frodo's time…†The book’s name seems suggestive of vellum or a similar animal parchment.
Paper specifically appears in several Middle-earth contexts:
As part of his vision in Galadriel's Mirror, Frodo gets "a glimpse of Bilbo walking restlessly about his room [in Rivendell]. The table was littered with disordered papers…" (Bk2 Ch7), and upon reaching Rivendell on their return-journey, the Four Travelers immediately search out said room, which they find “was littered with papers and pens and pencils..." (Bk6 Ch6). (!!!)
The source of this paper is unknown, though I suggest that it was either brought by Bilbo to Rivendell (when or where from is debatable (see below), or it was ‘borrowed’ from Elrond—quite possible, given Rivendell’s position as a repository of knowledge (“the storied and figured maps and books of lore that were in the house of Elrond†(Bk2 Ch3).
Finally, in The Hunt for the Ring (Unfinished Tales), it is revealed that the 'squint-eyed Southerner' encountered at Bree was a Dunlending agent of Saruman, and “had orders also to get into the Shire if possible… He was well supplied with maps, lists of names, and notes concerning the Shireâ€; these notes and maps are later referred to as “Saruman's papers.†Where Saruman’s paper comes from is a mystery, as the folk of Rohan are said by Aragorn to be “wise but unlearned, writing no books but singing many songsâ€, so he likely did not obtain paper from them!
However, by far, the majority of references to writing materials in Tolkien’s works refer to paper in the context of hobbits.
Before we even get into Book One proper, we learn that “By no means all Hobbits were lettered, but those who were wrote constantly to all their friends (and a selection of their relations) who lived further off than an afternoon's walk†(Prologue III—Of the Ordering of the Shire).
If the lettered hobbits are “constantly†writing and sending letters, there must be significant demand for a similarly constant supply of writing materials in the Shire. With this in mind, I find it quite unlikely that the hobbits would be using historically-expensive parchment or vellum for everyday correspondences such as the “hundreds of polite variations on Thank you, I will come†sent by those invited to Bilbo’s 111th birthday party.
It is possible to infer that for hobbits, like modern folk, paper was a disposable material (as evidenced by Bilbo’s bequeath of “a large waste-paper basket†to his second cousin Dora) and cheap enough that the hobbits were not in the habit of reusing old papers as palimpsests.
There are even different grades of paper available to hobbits: Bilbo has special “note-paper†on which Thorin writes his letter, and after his disappearance, Bilbo carefully wraps up his party clothes in “tissue-paperâ€!
So, after establishing that ‘paper’ is entirely commonplace in the late Third Age, the next question we need to answer is: where does it come from? Thankfully, there are clues we can put together to point at a source.
After the Long-Expected Party, we read that “People came and began (by orders) to clear away the ... [long list of party trash including] crumbs and cracker-paper... and the uneaten food (a very small item).â€
The cracker-paper in question should not be understood to mean ‘paper used to package baked goods that produced the above crumbs’, but rather the refuse of a specific type of party-favour, which we read elsewhere in Chapter 1 were in fact imported by Bilbo and present at the Party:
“Hundreds of musical crackers had been pulled. Most of them bore the mark DALE on them; which did not convey much to most of the hobbits, but they all agreed they were marvellous crackers. They contained instruments, small, but of perfect make and enchanting tones.â€
So, if we put these passages together, it would appear that some sort of what we today call Christmas Crackers (rolled paper tubes with goodies inside) were known in late Third Age Middle-earth, and were being produced in Dale! I do not know if Dale is the source of the rest of the Shire’s non-cracker paper, but it is the best lead we have. If so, it is possible that much of the paper Bilbo used to compile his memoirs while at Rivendell came with him following his post-Party trip eastward to Dale.
Actually, considering the near-at-hand “swiftly flowing†Celduin (River Running), I imagine Dale would be an ideal candidate for many kinds of water-powered mills, but for the purposes of this essay, I think we might surmise that a paper-mill was one of them, and this seems especially likely, given the reinvigoration of the Erebor/Dale/Lake-town economical sphere in the years after 2941 TA.
(The next question, which I have no idea how to answer, is: where did the Shire get its paper during Smaug's 171-year occupation of Erebor?)
To help visualize and connect these threads, on the attached map I have marked with green those locations known to be associated with ‘paper’, with blue those with non-specific (letters, books, scrolls, &c.) association, as well as known trade routes.
I believe we can draw these conclusions/assumptions:
*Gondor seems to be more scroll- and parchment-oriented (in addition to other methods of information transfer—clay, stone or metal tablets)
*Trade along the North-South road between Gondor and Arnor had collapsed long before the end of the Third Age.
*Most of Rivendell’s library was there before Bilbo arrived and settled down in his ‘retirement’.
*Following the Battle of Five Armies, Dale began (or resumed) making and exporting paper to the lands along the Great East Road (Rivendell, Bree, Shire, &c).
*To further demonstrate his growing influence, Saruman imported paper from the Shire (originally from Dale) among their other goods and produce.
Leading Question, courtesy of Elleth: “Do we have textual support for paper in our area of Middle-earth, or would they have been using (hide) parchment?â€
With this intriguing question point in mind, I combed my resources for references to paper, books, scrolls, letters, &c, and came up with an interesting picture.
Let’s start with a brief discussion of writing materials.
The earliest material that humans have used to encode information was clay, which would be impressed while wet (with a stylus or stamp) and could then be fired, fixing the message permanently. The Sumerian cuneiform is generally held up as the first writing system, though the ‘Vinca symbols’ of southeast Europe—which significantly predate the Mesopotamian system—are considered by some to be a ‘proto-writing’ system.
Paper is a writing material made from shredded-and-flattened cellulose fibers and originates in Han dynasty China (~200BCE-200CE); it eventually spread through Asia and entered Europe through contact with the Islamic sphere in the ~700s CE.
Paper is etymologically derived from papyrus, a thicker Egyptian material that dates from at least the 2500s BCE. Papyrus is not a true paper, however, as it is made by laying thin layers of sedge pith at right angles and then gluing or smashing together.
Both of these are in contrast to parchment, a scraped and stretched animal skin, which can include vellum, though that tends to be finer material. Parchment was known and used in Europe at least as early as classical Greece (400s BCE).
Although the late Third Age corresponds to approximately 4,000 BCE, both paper and parchments were known and used by various cultures in Middle-earth.
Parchment is specifically mentioned in relation to Gondor, and could be found in both books (bound sheets) and scrolls:
“‘We in the house of Denethor know much ancient lore by long tradition, and there are moreover in our treasuries many things preserved: books and tablets writ on withered parchments, yea, and on stone, and on leaves of silver and of gold, in divers characters†(Bk4 Ch5);
“In the night [Pippin] was wakened by a light, and he saw that Gandalf had come and was pacing to and fro in the room beyond the curtain of the alcove. There were candles on the table and rolls of parchment.†(Bk5 Ch1)
(Although it is nowhere mentioned in Tolkien, given its Numenorean heritage and Mediterannean climate/locale, I would not be surprised to find examples of papyrus in the archives of Gondor.)
Animal-derived writing materials were also apparently used by Dwarves, as Thror’s map of Erebor is described as “a piece of parchment rather like a map†(TH Ch1). We do not know what the other Third Age dwarvish document, the Book of Mazarbul, was written on; we read how when it was handled, “the leaves crackled and brokeâ€, but I do not know if this should be taken as evidence of parchment, or if it is simply a result of the abuse it suffered (“slashed and stabbed and partly burnedâ€), followed by 30 years of abandonment (Bk2 Ch5).
Finally, there may be a precedent for parchment use by hobbits, although not, apparently, by those of the late Third Age. As we read in Appendix D, “Not many ancient documents were preserved in the Shire. At the end of the Third Age far the most notable survival was Yellowskin, or the Yearbook of Tuckborough. Its earliest entries seem to have begun at least nine hundred years before Frodo's time…†The book’s name seems suggestive of vellum or a similar animal parchment.
Paper specifically appears in several Middle-earth contexts:
As part of his vision in Galadriel's Mirror, Frodo gets "a glimpse of Bilbo walking restlessly about his room [in Rivendell]. The table was littered with disordered papers…" (Bk2 Ch7), and upon reaching Rivendell on their return-journey, the Four Travelers immediately search out said room, which they find “was littered with papers and pens and pencils..." (Bk6 Ch6). (!!!)
The source of this paper is unknown, though I suggest that it was either brought by Bilbo to Rivendell (when or where from is debatable (see below), or it was ‘borrowed’ from Elrond—quite possible, given Rivendell’s position as a repository of knowledge (“the storied and figured maps and books of lore that were in the house of Elrond†(Bk2 Ch3).
Finally, in The Hunt for the Ring (Unfinished Tales), it is revealed that the 'squint-eyed Southerner' encountered at Bree was a Dunlending agent of Saruman, and “had orders also to get into the Shire if possible… He was well supplied with maps, lists of names, and notes concerning the Shireâ€; these notes and maps are later referred to as “Saruman's papers.†Where Saruman’s paper comes from is a mystery, as the folk of Rohan are said by Aragorn to be “wise but unlearned, writing no books but singing many songsâ€, so he likely did not obtain paper from them!
However, by far, the majority of references to writing materials in Tolkien’s works refer to paper in the context of hobbits.
Before we even get into Book One proper, we learn that “By no means all Hobbits were lettered, but those who were wrote constantly to all their friends (and a selection of their relations) who lived further off than an afternoon's walk†(Prologue III—Of the Ordering of the Shire).
If the lettered hobbits are “constantly†writing and sending letters, there must be significant demand for a similarly constant supply of writing materials in the Shire. With this in mind, I find it quite unlikely that the hobbits would be using historically-expensive parchment or vellum for everyday correspondences such as the “hundreds of polite variations on Thank you, I will come†sent by those invited to Bilbo’s 111th birthday party.
It is possible to infer that for hobbits, like modern folk, paper was a disposable material (as evidenced by Bilbo’s bequeath of “a large waste-paper basket†to his second cousin Dora) and cheap enough that the hobbits were not in the habit of reusing old papers as palimpsests.
There are even different grades of paper available to hobbits: Bilbo has special “note-paper†on which Thorin writes his letter, and after his disappearance, Bilbo carefully wraps up his party clothes in “tissue-paperâ€!
So, after establishing that ‘paper’ is entirely commonplace in the late Third Age, the next question we need to answer is: where does it come from? Thankfully, there are clues we can put together to point at a source.
After the Long-Expected Party, we read that “People came and began (by orders) to clear away the ... [long list of party trash including] crumbs and cracker-paper... and the uneaten food (a very small item).â€
The cracker-paper in question should not be understood to mean ‘paper used to package baked goods that produced the above crumbs’, but rather the refuse of a specific type of party-favour, which we read elsewhere in Chapter 1 were in fact imported by Bilbo and present at the Party:
“Hundreds of musical crackers had been pulled. Most of them bore the mark DALE on them; which did not convey much to most of the hobbits, but they all agreed they were marvellous crackers. They contained instruments, small, but of perfect make and enchanting tones.â€
So, if we put these passages together, it would appear that some sort of what we today call Christmas Crackers (rolled paper tubes with goodies inside) were known in late Third Age Middle-earth, and were being produced in Dale! I do not know if Dale is the source of the rest of the Shire’s non-cracker paper, but it is the best lead we have. If so, it is possible that much of the paper Bilbo used to compile his memoirs while at Rivendell came with him following his post-Party trip eastward to Dale.
Actually, considering the near-at-hand “swiftly flowing†Celduin (River Running), I imagine Dale would be an ideal candidate for many kinds of water-powered mills, but for the purposes of this essay, I think we might surmise that a paper-mill was one of them, and this seems especially likely, given the reinvigoration of the Erebor/Dale/Lake-town economical sphere in the years after 2941 TA.
(The next question, which I have no idea how to answer, is: where did the Shire get its paper during Smaug's 171-year occupation of Erebor?)
To help visualize and connect these threads, on the attached map I have marked with green those locations known to be associated with ‘paper’, with blue those with non-specific (letters, books, scrolls, &c.) association, as well as known trade routes.
I believe we can draw these conclusions/assumptions:
*Gondor seems to be more scroll- and parchment-oriented (in addition to other methods of information transfer—clay, stone or metal tablets)
*Trade along the North-South road between Gondor and Arnor had collapsed long before the end of the Third Age.
*Most of Rivendell’s library was there before Bilbo arrived and settled down in his ‘retirement’.
*Following the Battle of Five Armies, Dale began (or resumed) making and exporting paper to the lands along the Great East Road (Rivendell, Bree, Shire, &c).
*To further demonstrate his growing influence, Saruman imported paper from the Shire (originally from Dale) among their other goods and produce.