This article considers how the capitalist practices and organisation of hand papermaking framed the coming of mechanised paper production during the Age of Revolutions. The lived experience of making paper by hand had been as tightly wrapped as the synchronised toil of its workers and the trade's wage system. Neither the ’industrial Enlightenment’ nor an ‘industrious revolution’ had transformed paper production. Instead, the papermaking machine drew on and unravelled a durable web of skilled toil, custom, compensation, worktime, and shopfloor relationships. In doing so, the inventor of this device, Nicolas-Louis Robert, imagined that it would offer the manufacturers unfettered sway over their shops; indeed, he privileged this purpose above efficiency and productivity. That mastery remained incomplete, however, as paper producers still required men who had mastered the trade's tacit knowledge about such matters as pulp, finish, and the proper weather for production.

本文探讨了资本主义实践和手工造纸组织如何构筑了革命时代机械化造纸生产的到来。手工造纸的生活经验与工人的同步劳动和行业的工资制度一样紧密地包裹在一起。“工业启蒙”和“工业革命”都没有改变造纸业。取而代之的是，造纸机利用并解开了一张由熟练的劳作、习俗、薪酬、工作时间和车间关系组成的持久网络。在这样做的过程中，该设备的发明者尼古拉斯·路易斯·罗伯特 (Nicolas-Louis Robert) 设想它可以让制造商不受约束地控制他们的商店。事实上，他将此目的置于效率和生产力之上。然而，这种掌握仍然不完整，