Dried Nepalese and Tibetan plants used for paper.

Dried Nepalese and Tibetan plants used for paper.

Gift of Timothy Barrett.

Various plants indigenous to the Himalayas are the primary raw material used for papermaking in the region. The fiber kyem shog was used to make paper currency in Tibet in the early 20th century. The bast fiber dug re chag (Wikstroemia chamaejasme) is used exclusively for papermaking. The inner white bark of lotka (Nepali for Daphne bholua) also provides bast fiber. Unlike Western paper or paper from Japan, individual sheets of Tibetan paper are glued together in layers and polished to form a thick leaf.

From the collection of Rare Book School