Painterly reconstruction of a sunlit market street: stalls hung with patterned textiles and piled with folded cloth, baskets and pots line a stone-paved lane where people and a laden donkey walk under awnings, towards a gateway with a domed building, a minaret-like tower and palms beyond.

Baghdad · c. 800 CE

The bazaar

A busy street is one way into the city. Materials and techniques, paper among them, travelled through many hands before reaching places like Baghdad.

Sources
  • Materials and techniques reached Baghdad through many intermediaries.
    No source attached yet. · Draft; not yet source-checked.
  • Papermaking developed in China and spread westward through several regions and communities over time. — Avoid the simplified Talas papermakers story without nuanced evidence.
    No source attached yet. · Draft; not yet source-checked.
  • Paper was easier to handle than some earlier writing surfaces. — Which surfaces, and in what respects, needs specifying.
    No source attached yet. · Draft; not yet source-checked.