Books: The History

                                                                                    
            Above, from left:  Baked clay tablet, papyrus plant, Chinese block printing, medieval illustrated manuscript, Gutenberg printing press, rotary press, first modern e-reader device (the Rocket eBook).

The above is essentially in a nutshell, the history of books. This link is an article which briefly describes the evolution of a book. It starts with the evolution of the book and illustrates how Sumerians five thousand years ago used symbols as a tracking device. The country of Iraq currently occupies where Sumer was, which was t he homeland of the Sumerians. It is fascinating that rolls, papyrus rolls, clay tablets were used to tell a story. The article indicates that “The Codex” is the most traditional form of a book. Now, when we speak about traditional we mean, that is has separate pages. This is and was the most modern to capture literature nineteen hundred years ago. This starts the evolution of the traditional book.

Years after the Chinese invented what is known as “Printing”. Essentially one did not need to hand write copies, they used what is called a pictograph to capture the full book on metal moveable parts and the books were pressed on paper. This evolution started the printing press era where mortised prints took place of human power.

The article reviews the next era which is called “The Digital Revolution”, since 1968 when computers became a part of the printing press procedure. Not long after this we saw the storing of digital data and an end to the old printing pressed books. The electronic book took birth slightly after the computer based printing era. The E-Book allowed for individuals to capture, read an store data all in one application. This application or tool was sophisticated in a way that accessibility was not longer an issue. You could read in your home, work, buss, train ... or wherever it seemed possible. The quote listed below is powerful and so true to the human revolution and how books can never be forgotten. It reads,

“Why should we continue to value, preserve, read and write books?  Simply because of what they represent.  Books record our past and progress; contain our experiments, fancies, knowledge, and accumulated wisdom; proclaim our fears and ideas; and champion our ideals, dreams, and hopes for the future. More than any other medium, books carry the heart and soul of our civilisation forward, and keep it accessible. Long live the book!”

Simply books and literature have been a part of our lives since 3000 BC, the evolution has taken ages from stone to paper to electronic devices, however one must not forget the message literature brigs and expresses to society.

Reference:

A History of the Book, Retrieved from; http://www.e-book.com.au/bookhistory.htm