Printing and writing paper

The most common paper size in office use is US letter in the US, and A4 where the ISO paper series are in use.{{Citation needed|reason=It's common knowledge but I have no references|date=August 2024}} A4 ("metric") paper is easier to obtain in the US than US letter can be had elsewhere.{{Citation needed|reason=even walmart has A4, but letter is unobtanium outside the US--again, easy to see but harder to find references for|date=August 2024}}.

The ISO 216:2007 is the current international standard for paper sizes, including writing papers and some types of printing papers. This standard describes the paper sizes under what the ISO calls the A, B, and C series formats.{{Cite web|date=2020|title=International Paper Sizes & Formats|url=https://www.papersizes.org/|access-date=30 July 2020|website=Paper Sizes: International Paper Sizes and Formats}}

Not all countries follow ISO 216. North America, for instance, uses certain terms to describe paper sizes, such as Letter, Legal, Junior Legal, and Ledger or Tabloid.{{Cite web|date=2020|title=US Paper Sizes|url=https://www.papersizes.org/us-paper-sizes.htm|access-date=30 July 2020|website=Paper Sizes: International Paper Sizes & Formats}}

Most types of printing papers also do not follow ISO standards but have features that conform with leading industry standards.{{Cite web|last=Santos|first=F.|date=2020|title=Printing Papers: Choose the Right One|url=https://engineerwarehouse.com/blogs/lists/top-5-printing-papers|access-date=30 July 2020|website=Engineer Warehouse Learning Center}} These include, among others, ink adhesion, light sensitivity, waterproofing, compatibility with thermal or PSA overlaminate, and glossy or matte finish.

Additionally, the American National Standards Institute or ANSI also defined a series of paper sizes, with size A being the smallest and E the largest. These paper sizes have aspect ratios 1:1.2941 and 1:1.5455.

• Fine paper
• Machine finished coated paper
• Newsprint
• Bond paper

The history of paper is often attributed to the Han dynasty (25-220 AD) when Cai Lun, a Chinese court official and inventor, made paper sheets using the “bark of trees, remnants of hemp, rags of cloth, and fishing nets.”{{Cite web|date=n.d.|title=Origins of Paper|url=https://www.cabinet.ox.ac.uk/origins-paper|access-date=30 July 2020|website=Cabinet}} Cai Lun's method of papermaking received praise during his time for offering a more convenient alternative to writing on silk or bamboo tablets, which were the traditional materials in ancient Chinese writing.{{Cite web|date=n.d.|title=Early papermaking in China|url=http://buy-motilium.com/Early_papermaking_in_China.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180825184321/http://buy-motilium.com/Early_papermaking_in_China.html|url-status=usurped|archive-date=August 25, 2018|access-date=30 July 2020|website=Books Garden}}

On the other hand, archeological evidence supports that the ancient Chinese military had used paper over a hundred years before Cai Lun's contribution and that maps from early 2nd century BCE were also made with paper. With this, it appears that what Cai Lun accomplished is not an invention but an improvement in the papermaking process. Today, even with the presence of modern tools and machines for papermaking, most processes still involve the traditional steps that Cai Lun employed, namely the process of soaking felted fiber sheets in water, draining the water, and then drying the fiber into thin sheets.{{Cite web|date=2017|title=Cai Lun Biography|url=https://www.biographyonline.net/business/cai-lun.html|access-date=30 July 2020|website=Biography Online}}

In 1690, the first paper mill in America was established by William Rittenhouse.{{Cite journal|last=Aithal|first=S.|date=2016|title=A Study on History of Paper and Possible Paper Free World|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/291486327|journal=International Journal of Management, IT and Engineering|volume=6}} The mill became the largest manufacturer of paper in America for over a hundred years until other paper mills sprang up, including the paper mill by William Bradford which supplied paper to the New York Gazette.{{Cite web|date=n.d.|title=William Rittenhouse|url=https://www.ushistory.org/germantown/people/rittenhouse.htm|access-date=30 July 2020|website=US History}}

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