Paper and the book market in Abbasid Baghdad

Abstract

This paper examines how the spread of paper-making in Baghdad from the late eighth century affected the cost of producing and circulating books. It discusses the warraqun as copyists, sellers and publishers at once, and how this widened the reading public.

Topics

• The cost of paper compared with parchment and papyrus.
• The booksellers' market and how it was organised.
• The link between paper and the translation movement.

Working paper. The full version will be published later.