One of the earliest libraries or archives of conserved and classified information was found at Nineva. It comprised of 20,000 clay tablets belonging to the Kings of Assyria from the 7th century BC, who apparently had at their disposal whole workshops of copyists and conservationists.
Clay tablets were an early form of material used to record information and there have been many varied means of doing this since the 7th century BC!
Back in the 2nd century BC China, writing on wood, shells, bone and silk was popular.
In fact, the use of tablets as a medium of collating information was used until the 19th century in many parts of the world.
Papyrus, made from the marrow of stems was used for early sacred writings.
Papyrus manuscript books were made as scrolls with many sheets pasted together. Ramses III had papyrus manuscripts in his archives, with some as long as 40 metres in length.
Parchment soon began to replace papyrus. Legend tells that parchment was invented by Eumenes II, the King of Pergamon, from which the word ‘parchment’ originated.
It was made using the skins of animals (donkey, antelope, cattle and sheep), this medium proved much easier to conserve. It was difficult to erase the text and the material was solid.
Parchment has always been a very expensive medium due to the rarity of the material used to make it, plus the time taken to produce a document. The very finest quality of parchment is called Vellum.
As vellum was such a durable substance, it has been used through the ages to record many important legal documents.
A fact that has enabled the Domesday Book, the Magna Carta, Henry VIII’s Certificate of Marriage and even King Charles I’s Warrant of Death to survive to this day.
In Great Britain politicians recently voted to continue the thousand-year-old practice of recording its laws on vellum. The Queen’s speech is also annually recorded on vellum.
In 1st century AD paper was invented in China and this is attributed to the use of blackberry bush wood. The Romans began to use wax covered tablets, these were written on and could be erased with a stylus. Several of these tablets could be used together to form a codex.
So, began a very early form of ‘book’…
The first in an occasional series I will be writing, about the history of writing, reading and books.
I will be pleased to hear any questions, opinions or anecdotes on these topics.
Just leave a comment below or email me ?
sue@bestbooksandpens.com