Books have been a part of our daily lives since ancient times and it is through Books that our societies changed.  They have been used for telling stories, archiving history, and sharing information about and to the world.

It goes without saying that the ways that books are made have evolved tremendously over time, from handwritten manuscripts to digitized online, books remain timeless. 

Take a read through this brief history of books…

How it all started

The history of the book starts with the development of writing and various other inventions such as paper and printing. 

The history of writing traces the development of expressing language by systems of markings  and how these markings were used for various purposes in different societies, thereby transforming social organization. 

Scholars generally agree that the earliest form of writing appeared almost 5,500 years ago in Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq). Early pictorial signs were gradually substituted by a complex system of characters representing the sounds of Sumerian (the language of Sumer in Southern Mesopotamia) and other languages.

From 2900 BC, these began to be impressed in wet clay with a reed stylus, making wedge-shaped marks which are now known as cuneiform.

The first writing is known between the 7th and 4th centuries BC, initially using mnemonic symbols, which later became pictograms and graphic signs. The oldest known forms of writing are logographic – composed of graphemes that mean a whole word.

Interestingly, the ancients used all sorts of writing surfaces – stone, bone, bronze, ceramics, mussels, and in India, they even used dried palm leaves.

Let’s take a look at different forms of writing surfaces:

Ancient Writing Materials

Parchment

Parchment is a specially treated form of leather that is soft and durable, making it an excellent writing material. High quality parchment is sometimes referred to as vellum. It is known that parchment was used as a writing material as early as the Ptolemaic era, and it was in fact preferred over papyrus in northern regions, where the climate can be unfavorable for papyrus, and also in Near Eastern regions.

After about the third century AD, papyrus began to be used less, and parchment was used more. Parchment had the advantage that it could be produced anywhere, while papyrus rolls could only be produced in the parts of Egypt where the papyrus plant grows.

Papyrus

Papyrus is the most common writing material, and it was used for all manner of public documents, private letters, literary and paralitery texts. Nevertheless, papyrus was expensive enough in ancient Egypt that it was often recycled and reused. Many papyri are written on both sides, and old papyrus were sometimes recycled as mummy cartonnage. 

Paper

The invention of paper is traditionally attributed to the Chinese in the early part of the 2nd century AD. From China, paper traveled west in the 8th century to the Arabs, who then spread the use of paper through their conquests into Europe. It was Tsai Lun, a clerk at the imperial court of the Han dynasty who first  made a sheet of paper using mulberry core, old rags, mesh fabric, and hemp. Paper was often bound together like modern books. 

The Evolution of the Book in Medieval and Renaissance Society

Before the invention of the printing press, the work that went into making a book was considerably more difficult. In order to begin the writing process, ink had to be mixed by hand. The pages of a book were also hand-made and sewn together. Artists often embellished manuscripts with illustrations, carvings, or jewels, and these books were “treasured as works of art” throughout the fifteenth century

It is known that the monasteries of the Eastern Orthodox and Catholic Churches became the main repositories of books. Early bookmakers were often monks who kept libraries filled with religious works. During this period, the control and censorship of books was poorly organized. Censors were focused on works of history with political undertones that could badly affect the present, and religious treatises; these works often reflected public opinion hence, the original of many valuable books simply disappeared.

Movable Type — the very first printer

Before printers existed, books had to be written by hand and had to be copied by hand to be mass produced and it all changed with the invention of the movable type.

In the year 1439, Johannes Gutenberg of Germany, developed European movable type printing technology called the Gutenberg Press.

It is this invention that started the printing business. Books became easier to produce and reproduce to the masses. 

This invention started the printing business. Gutenberg’s most famous work is the Gutenberg Bible (also known as the 42-line Bible) that is printed using his machine.

Printing via movable type did not catch on as quickly in Asia as it did in Europe due to China and Japan’s vast number of characters, compared to that of European alphabets. Nonetheless, this development had a huge impact on the world and revolutionized education. 

The Printing Revolution

Gutenberg’s invention of the mechanical moveable type (printing press) led to a mass revolution of printing activities and by the end of the 15th century printing had spread to more than 236 countries in Europe, with more than 20 million books produced. From this time onwards it is generally assumed that the printed book was in universal use throughout Europe.

This rapid expansion and sharp fall in production costs took everyone by surprise, created the very first “bestsellers”, the very first Newspaper and a whole new branch of media with the publishing press.

1832 AD – Book sleeves appear

1832 AD marks the very first books to be covered in printed detachable paper jackets. The first book covered was believed to be “The Keepsake”, an annual of stories written primarily by Walter Scott and produced by Charles Heath.

The book jacket design remained relatively unchanged for the following 60 years until the first 2 decades of the twentieth century where designs and creativity made the book cover a piece of art.

1985 AD – First books on CD

In 1985 one of the USA’s largest publishers of encyclopedias published a text only version of the Academic American Encyclopedia. This has the distinction of being the very first book to be published on a CD. Since this time a number of books have been published on this media but by far the most popular use for this format has been the audio book.

1995 AD – Books sold Online

The very first online bookseller: Amazon. Launched by Jeff Bezos in 1995, Amazon offered a wide choice of books to buy online. Bezos’ idea was to create an online bookstore that was not limited to the volume offered by traditional book shops. 

It is difficult to predict just what direction the book will ultimately take, there is no doubt that Tablets, Smart-phones and E-readers have become very popular. Maybe, If we look far enough into the future, inspired by a million science fiction movies, vast libraries and information will be stored directly in our brains and can access all this information through the power of thought…who knows. However, we believe that the whole tactile and sensory experience that the paper format offers cannot just be replaced and paper books are here to stay.

Some of the oldest and most valuable books in the world

The ranking contains books that are valuable for their content and workmanship.

“The Etruscan Golden Book” is about 2616 years old, this vintage book contains only 6 pages made of 24-carat gold. It was created 600 years before Christ.

“Gutenberg’s Bible”, holds the top of the ranking for the oldest and most valuable book. 

“The Codex Calixtinus” was written in the middle of the XII century. The original was attributed to the French monk Emeric Pico. It contains five books. The first four are religious texts, and the fifth is a guidebook. 

“St. Dunstan’s Classbook” is made up of four books sewn together in one book in the early 10th century. The book contains remarkable illustrations made by hand by St. Dunston.
The ranking continues with “The Book Of Kells“, which is a magnificently illustrated manuscript, considered one of Ireland’s greatest treasures.