Paper,+printing+works+and+books

Originally a Chinese invention in the early 200s BCE, paper first arrived to the Islamic empire in the 750s via the Silk Road and proved so cheap a production method compared to the earlier parchment form, that by the 10th century, Islamic Spain had numerous paper mills. This much more cost efficient material indirectly helped contribute to the proliferation of research and eventual publication of untold numbers of books in the sciences, arts, and philosophy. The spread of paper into Islamic Spain also eventually spread into the rest of Western Europe, though that would not occur until the 15th century, thanks to the Reconquista.
 * Paper**

The primary interest in books first arose as a result of the Islamic Empire´s contact with other religions and cultures. Desiring to convert the conquered to Islam, Muslim clerics sought to read the books they encountered and understand them so that they could better reason with the new citizens of the empire and thus bring them to Islam.
 * Books**

Thus, it was through the prism of religion that the Arabs became obsessed with the acquisition and translation of earlier texts, as well as publishing commentaries on these works and books whose research came largely from the foundations established by these previous sources.

As a direct result of this hunger for knowledge, the breadth and scope of one´s library became a signifier of one´s status and prestige, particularly in Andalucia, where, as one historian noted, books were even more sought after than beautiful courtesans. The Great Library in Cordoba was the most reknowned, with 400,000 volumes at its peak, all intricately and meticulously catalogued. As a point of comparison, the largest libraries in Christian Europe in this time period consisted of a mere 2,000 volumes.

These libraries did not exist in a vacuum, naturally. An entire industry of printers, copyists, booksellers, and universities worked closely with and supported the library system, leading to some 60,000 published works a year on average.