66 MANUFACTURES OF RUSSIA. 



CHAPTER V. 

 Paper Industry 



IN early times in Russia parchment was used for writing purposes, but as tliis 

 material was expensive other cheaper substitutes were tried, such as bast and birch 

 bark, particularly the latter. Writing paper made its appearance from the east in 

 the fourteenth century; it was made of cotton. The Tartar and Kalmuck charters, 

 and also the most ancient book, date 1371, were written on this kind of paper. 

 The manufacture of paper dates from the time of Ivan the Terrible, when one paper 

 mill was built. During the reign of Alexis Michailovich there were already two, but 

 the paper produced was of inferior quality, and therefore foreign paper was still in 

 vogue. 



Peter the Great placed the paper-making industry on a firmer footing. Expe- 

 rienced paper makers were invited from abroad; a Grovernment paper mill was built in 

 Moscow and young men were sent to other countries to study the industry. When the 

 capital was transferred to St. Petersburg a second Government mill was built in the 

 \icinity, called the Doudourovsk Manufactory; a decree was issued for rag-collecting 

 and the price was fixed at 8 half-kopeks per pond. After tlie death of Peter the 

 Great there were but four paper mills, but this number was gradually increased. During 

 the reign of Anna loannovna a mill was built at Krasnoe Selo for supplying the 

 Government offices with stamped paper. Tlie Empress Catherine II decreed that all 

 law courts were to use in preference paper of Russian manufacture ; this considerably 

 assisted the development of the paper-making trade, and the number of mills rapidly 

 increased. In 1765 there were 13 mills; in 1766 there were 23, and in 1780 there 

 were 25, producing 150,000 roubles worth of paper. At the beginning of this century 

 the number further increased to 64. In 1812 the Tsarskoe Selo mill was superseded 

 by the Imperial State Paper Manufactory, established in St. Petersburg. In 1814 the 

 number of mills rose to 74. The technical progress achieved was liowever small in 

 spite of the increasing number of mills; the change from hand-made to machine-made 

 paper, which created a thorough revolution in the paper-making trade, was already ■ 



