Turning the Pages: Evolution of Books

What makes book, a book? How did books take the form in which we recognise them today? Here is the evolution of books, from the beginning, from page to page and non-fiction from book to non-book, and how books have evolved over the years.

Clay Tablets

Long before the use of paper, a system had been invented to communicate in written form on portable material.

• The first attempt of writing words on movable objects was made by the Stimarians, an ancient group of people in Mesopotamia around 3500-3000 BC
• They invented the earliest known language writing system, Cuneiform, which consisted of pictographs and phonograms etched on clay tablets

The Printing Revolution 1846-Cylinder Printing Press

Richard M. Hoe created a revolution in printing by rolling a cylinder over stationary plates of inked type and using the cylinder to make an impression on paper.

• Gutenberg’s invention led to printing activities all over Europe, and by the late 15th century, more than 20 million books were published in more than 200 countries

Papyrus Scrolls

These were made from the stem of the Papyrus plant by ancient Egyptians

Movable Type

Ink is applied to the entire block, and paper is pressed against it, resulting to a beautifully printed book.

• In China, Bi Sheng of China invented movable type
• He started the system of carving a single letter on a small piece of clay or wood instead of carving the whole book on a single block. This proved to be more efficient as blocks could be rearranged and reused.

Codex

Came written manuscripts closer to modern books

• In a codex, pages were bound together, one after another
• The main advantage of codex over scrolls was that it could be at once opened to any point and was easy to handle
• It also made it possible to write on both sides of a page

Gutenberg’s Mechanical Movable Type

German goldsmith Johannes Gutenberg developed a metal movable type system of casting letters with screw press and hand mould.

• The Gutenberg Bible was the first complete book printed in Gutenberg’s new movabletype printing press in 1455.

Digitisation and Digitalization

With the invention of the computer, microprocessor, and the internet, books have seen a major digital transformation

Paper and Illustrations

Paper is believed to have been invented in China in 105 A.D.

• The credit of invention of paper goes to an official of Ihc then Chinese imperial court of Eastern Han, Cai Lun
• Soon paper started being used in China and also spread all across the world

First Printed Book

In China, block printing is believed to have originated

• Letters of Chinese alphabets were carved in mirror-writing on large wooden blocks.
• Ink would be applied to the entire block, then a large paper was pressed against the block.

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