ink

One of the oldest examples of ink writing on papyrus known to us today is the Egyptian "Prisse Papyrus" which dates back to 2000 B.C. Around 400 A.D. a particularly durable ink made of iron-salts, nutgalls and gum was developed. Its color when first used was dark blue, which turned black on drying and then over the years faded to the brown color now familiar to us from old documents. In the 15th century, a new type of ink was developed in Europe for the printing press by Johannes Gutenberg made of a mixture of lampblack and linseed oil. The use of coal tar facilitated color printing in the 17th century but linseed remained the basis of printing ink until the 1930s when heatset ink was developed.

The introduction of computers into the office saw a boom in the development and production of ink; today, ink manufacture is a highly specialized industry which produces ink with special characteristics for each printing process and purpose.

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