Last week, the international and interdisciplinary conference “Use and Reuse of Paper in the Pre-Industrial World” was held in Cork, Ireland. It was organized collaboratively by members of the research project “Life of Paper” and partners at University College Cork. A total of 13 lectures were given by participants from over 10 countries.

Scholarly interest in the reuse of paper is steadily increasing. At the conference, historical uses of paper were discussed not only in connection with bookmaking but also, for instance, in clothing and wall decoration. The organizers plan to publish conference proceedings.