remained an article of luxury if parchment had been the 
     only available medium of issue. Papyrus is hard, brittle, 
     and unsuitable for printing. The introduction of linen-
     paper making into Europe from China was thus an 
     important preliminary condition. The origin of this product 
     in the Far East and the stages of its transfer overland to 
     Europe are now fairly well ascertained, so that the 
     chronology of the transfers is adequately established . . .

     That printing from movable types was an event nearly 
related to the earlier technology of the phonetic alphabet is a 
fact that has been a main reason for studying all these 
centuries that preceded Gutenberg. Phonetic script was the 
indispensable prelude. Thus Chinese ideogrammic script proved 
a complete block against the development of print technology 
in their culture. Today when they are determined to alphabetize