Innovation in paper making: The Netherlands 1750–1850

Abstract

Until the middle of the eighteenth century Dutch paper makers had a leading position on the international paper market, both commercially and technically. From around 1700 a decline set in, which became dramatic after 1780. The introduction of new machinery and processes from Britain and elsewhere during the nineteenth century was slow, but when it came about, the Dutch paper industry regained an important part of the international market. This article attempts to explain the technological aspects of this development in the light of theories about the economic and technological history of the Netherlands in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.