A question I’ve always asked myself is: where do books come from? Well, after extensive research I’ve finally found the answer to my question. It began with simple pictures and carvings on cave walls but soon evolved into something much more. Around 3500 BC groups of people began to carve symbols onto tablets, creating their own alphabets and language structures. The alphabets they created are very different from the ones we use today, but this is the start of the journey which led to the books we have now. Around a thousand years later, papyrus scrolls were developed in ancient Egypt which took writing to a whole new level (for more about papyrus paper go to https://www.lib.umich.edu/papyrus_making/pm_intro.html0).
Brief history through the ages
To write their hieroglyphics on papyrus scrolls, the Egyptians would use writing instruments made of fine reeds dipped in ink made up of crushed up minerals and water. After papyrus scrolls, parchment was invented and developed by the Greeks, who also came up with an alphabet that was adopted by many of the surrounding cultures. Parchment was often quite heavy so for a while papyrus scrolls were the preferred choice of paper. However, parchment soon took over in the Western world, eventually replacing papyrus entirely. Similarly, Romans invented wax tablets onto which students at school would carve their work. Can you imagine trying to do maths on a wax slate? That would be so hard! 100 years later, around 105 AD, a Chinese man named Cai Lun invented papermaking. Paper was originally used for things other than writing such as wrapping. In fact, the first newspaper was printed in China (for more about paper go to http://www.silkroadfoundation.org/artl/papermaking.shtml). The very first book was printed in 868 AD in China. However, this book was invented using a method known as block printing. This is when a block of wood had words carved in reverse, which was then covered in ink to create a print on the paper.
The Changing Methods
From this point, books were developed using this method until moveable type printing was discovered. This is the system of printing and typography in which moveable components are used to reproduce the elements of a document on a piece of paper. In other words, not huge chunks of wood! In Europe, Johannes Gutenberg used a new mode, movable printing to produce books such as the Gutenberg Bible (https://www.bl.uk/collection-items/gutenberg-bible); which, though very expensive, still exists to this day. The sole reason that this is still the case, after so many years, is due to the ink that Gutenberg used. Unlike writing ink, he used an oil based ink which is similar to oil paints. It has a high level of metal content, which contributes to the long lasting effect of the ink. Most inks are water based so are less durable than the oil based ink. After Gutenberg’s invention, there was a revolution in printing around 1500 AD which led to the invention of the paperback book. From this point onwards, books continued to improve with discoveries such as chlorine being used as a bleaching agent, which can achieve the pure white we associate with paper today. Another important development was the invention of book sleeves which allowed for greater durability, which is still essential to the book industry currently.
Modern Day Relevance
In 1989 the Internet became available for public use which led to books being sold online, hence the development of the e-book. E-book market growth began between 2000 and 2006; often involving many glitches and technology crashes. The Kindle was the first large-scale, commercially available book reader; it was invented in 2007. Before the Kindle, there were other variations of the e-book but the kindle was the first large scale version that was commercially successful which is why it has made such a lasting impression. From 2014 onwards it became increasingly easy to buy a book online or even download it for free, which has both positive and negative sides to it (which I will not be getting into today). Well, there you have it: a brief history of the wonderful creation that is known as a book. For a more detailed description, go to https://sfbook.com/the-evolution-of-the-book.htm.
