published on: December 03, 2019 author: cerrie burnell
Books and storytelling have long been a part of our human identity. Author Cerrie Burnell shows why stories are for everyone, regardless of background.
You are reading: Why were books invented
We all know that glorious feeling of having a book in your hands. whether it’s a new gift, or something we’ve borrowed from a fabulous library, or perhaps a long-cherished family treasure wrinkled from re-reading…
but there’s something special that comes from holding a story and knowing you can jump in or out of it, whenever you want.
When my daughter asked me, ‘but how did the first book start?’, I didn’t have a coherent answer. I have always accepted that books are a kind of magic. but the journey of a book and how it began is its own historical and cross-cultural adventure that makes its way around the world.
spoken word and cave drawings
Alongside storytelling, there are many examples of older civilizations recording their lives, through cave drawings or stone carvings. but the earliest examples of “writing,” whether on stone slabs or printed on bits of bark, were more for recording numbers, lists, or conveying information.
People needed to document their accounts, so in fact the first written notes were more about conveying math than literature!
scrolls and “pages”
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The ancient Egyptians were the first society to use “pages” as such. They did this by interweaving stems from a papyrus plant, and then flattened the woven stems by pounding them flat. this created a “page” which, when pasted, turned into a scroll.
This technique was used for hundreds of years and was soon adopted by the Greeks and Romans. they would carefully wrap the parchment around a large piece of wood so it could be stored or transported, then unrolled it with a grand gesture to read it aloud. this method was used until the 8th century AD.
A little before this time, in another part of the world, parchment began to be used as calf skin, or deer skin, since it was less likely to break, and papyrus was in short supply. the parchment would be alkaline treated and then written on with ink.
the beginning of illustrated books
The Greeks and Romans also invented wax tablets, which were blocks of wood with layers of wax so you could carve a message on them, then erase them and reuse them over and over again (more or less like an engraved sketch!).
It is said that the first real book written on paper was made in China. It was created using berries, hemp, bark, and even fish to form a large pulp, which could be pressed and dried to form paper. each sheet of paper was about the size of a newspaper and was called a “sheet”. As soon as the sheet was printed in ink using wooden printing blocks, it was known as a “folio,” which is another word for sheet.
the first books
Gradually, individual books were formed, which were highly prized. some of these books contained very important information or religious texts and others narrated glorious, wicked or wonderful stories. The first book ever written that we know of is the Epic of Gilgamesh: a mythical account of a major political figure in history.
In the 14th century, jikji was printed in movable (metal) type in Korea: a collection of Zen Buddhist teachings. a century later, in 1454, a german named johannes gutenburg built a printing house to print the gutenburg bible, which led to printers springing up all over europe.
Books can now be printed much more easily!
See Also: What to do with old books – Turning the Clock Back
a man named aldus manutious founded a printing house in venice with the desire to create pocket books that recounted the greek classics. his wish was that wealthy people could put the book in a bag and take it with them when riding a bicycle, which means that the books could be transported everywhere.
publishers and book clubs
In 1832 the first book covers appeared. In America and Britain, penny-wise books were rewrites of gothic horror stories that soon earned them the nickname penny dreadful. however, not everyone could afford a penny a book, so groups of friends got together to split the cost and enjoy the dark and gory stories together: these were the first book clubs!
Also in the 19th century, aspiring publishers began printing hardcover books aimed at wealthier households. there was a lot of snobbery around the difference in books: hardbacks were thought to be great works of good literature, and paperbacks were thought to be less smart or dumb.
Two American brothers named boni created a publishing house that sent out books by mail order. It went through some tough times, but it finally succeeded and became random house.
The boni brothers were closely followed in 1935 by penguin, a highly successful British publisher printing clearly branded books that appealed to the world. this was just the beginning of the publishing world as we know it and it flourished further with the invention of conventional computers, books on tape or cd (which we now know as >audiobooks) and the ebook or kindle.
all stories are the same
For me, having a physical book in hand, whether hardcover or paperback, is something of a charm. (although I also love audiobooks to listen to late at night). If you can’t find a book that reflects your experience of the world, then maybe you need to write that book.
Learning about different communities and seeing ourselves represented on the pages of epic tales is magic for the soul: it teaches us resilience and compassion and much more…
plus a bit of history: learn about libraries and why they’re important
more information on booktrust writers in residence
See Also: FGM Recommended Book List