Paper occupies a special place in histories of knowledge. It is the substrate of communication, the stuff of archives, the bearer of marks that make worlds. Attending to the specific qualities of paper is only possible, I argue, if it is understood that paper can be both transparent and opaque depending on the social world it inhabits and helps to constitute. Paper flickers into and out of view, and it is precisely this quality that constitutes its sociomateriality.

— ‘Paper Tools’, Studies in History and Philosophy of Science 64 (2017) 53–63, abstract

Page with paper sundial, from Salomon de Caus, La pratique et demonstration des horloges solaires […] (Paris, 1624). Leiden, Universiteitsbibliotheek, 676 A 6.

Page with paper sundial, from Salomon de Caus, La pratique et demonstration des horloges solaires […] (Paris, 1624). Leiden, Universiteitsbibliotheek, 676 A 6.