5,000 years ago, the earliest "books" appeared in the world, but they were just clay tablets. It wasn't until more than 1,000 years ago that books similar to today's appeared.
Before the advent of books, people could only memorize various information and spread it by word of mouth. But there is always some information that is too complex to remember. This problem was not solved until humans learned to write.
The earliest "writers" used wooden sticks to mark clay blocks to record information. After baking, the clay hardens so that the information can be preserved for a long time. These marks are the oldest writing in the world: the cuneiform (xie) script invented by the Sumerians in the Mesopotamia and Mesopotamia more than 5,000 years ago. This writing method is also called "clay tablet script".
"Clay Books" can only record simple daily things. But soon, people began to make laws and create stories. But if everything is recorded on clay tablets, think about it, how many clay tablets are needed...
Early books
Around 3000 BC, the ancient Egyptians invented the world's earliest The "paper" - papyrus (a writing medium made from a plant called " papyrus "). By gluing multiple pieces of papyrus together, you can get a long piece of papyrus; then, roll this long piece of papyrus on a stick to make a scroll, and then tie it up with a rope woven from papyrus. for storage.
Although people in other areas learned to use papyrus from the ancient Egyptians, because papyrus mainly grew in Egypt, it was difficult for people in other areas to obtain papyrus. As a result, in some cold areas, a kind of "paper" made of calfskin or goatskin, parchment, replaced papyrus.
Sometimes a long piece of parchment is folded multiple times and folded into an accordion shape to preserve it. But typically, the parchment was simply folded in half and then sewn together along the center crease, looking much like today's books.
Long before the arrival of the Europeans, Mesoamerica and Mayans and Aztecs of South America had produced and stocked a large number of "books". These books are made of deerskin or thin tree bark, with novel forms and bright colors.
In ancient China, books were different. The earliest ancient Chinese inscribed characters on animal bones or turtle shells, known as oracle bone inscriptions.
Later, they carved characters on bronze vessels... and then they used ink to write on bamboo slips or silk. These are bamboo slips and silk books.
Papermaking
Around the 2nd century BC, the clever ancient Chinese invented real paper using bark and rags as raw materials. This kind of paper is not only cheap, but also simple to make, and its surface is much smoother than papyrus or parchment, making it more suitable for writing.
Around 700 AD, Islamic merchants brought Chinese papermaking to West Asia, and it soon spread to Europe. But whether it was parchment or paper invented in China, these early papers all had one big problem in common.
Every book needs to be copied by hand. If there were pictures in the book, each picture had to be painted by hand, one at a time... For a variety of reasons, books were a rare and expensive item, even though paper was cheap and readily available.
Printing
In addition to paper, the ancient Chinese were also the inventors of early printing. They carved words and pictures on wooden boards or slates, and then applied ink to the wooden boards (slates). As long as the wooden boards (slates) were pressed against the paper, the entire page could be printed at once. For this edition, you can print as many copies as you want. This type of printing is called "block printing" and was invented during the Tang Dynasty (AD 618-907) in China.
However, engraving printing also has an obvious flaw: a block of engraving must be made for each printed page. Even if only one word is different, a new block must be made, which is time-consuming, labor-intensive, and inefficient.It was not until around 1040 AD that Bi Sheng, a man from the Song Dynasty in China, invented movable type printing, which made up for the shortcomings of woodblock printing.
Bi Sheng made the clay into small squares, with only one word printed on each piece. When typesetting, just combine different blocks according to the content of the book. After the first edition is printed, the word blocks can be reused after being washed. How time-saving and efficient!
printing press
400 years later, a man named John. Gutenberg, a German, invented European movable type printing. The difference was that he used metal letter blocks instead of clay blocks. At the same time, Gutenberg also invented the world's first printing press, once again improving the printing efficiency of books.
The text and pictures engraved on the wood or metal blocks can be freely combined, the content can be changed at will, and it is also convenient for storage. In the end, the efficiency of book production was greatly improved, making it easier and faster.
With the reduction of production costs, books have become more popular, causing more and more people to start reading. Moreover, because there are a large number of pictures in the book, even if people cannot read all the words, they can understand the main idea of the story based on the pictures.
Both printing presses were the primary methods of printing books for nearly 1,000 years. Even though computers are very advanced today and we can "write" documents at a faster speed, the printing of books still requires converting the text into a printing plate that can be spread with ink before printing can be completed.
Once upon a time, books were an expensive item that only the rich could afford. It was because of the advent of printing and the printing press that books became precious items that everyone could own. Today, although we can read anytime and anywhere through computers and mobile phones, for many people, paper books still have a unique charm.
Little knowledge about books:
hieroglyphs
Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics are also called "hieroglyphics", a writing system composed of hieroglyphs, syllabic characters and letters, which has been used from 3000 BC to 4th century AD.
Oracle bone script
The characters carved on tortoise shells or animal bones are the earliest mature Chinese characters and one of the earliest systems of characters in the world.
Bamboo Slips
Bamboo slips in ancient China record various studies of science, architecture, medicine and poetry by the ancients. Chinese characters can be written from top to bottom, so they are very suitable for writing on bamboo slips.
Parchment paper
Parchment paper is made from the skin of animals such as goats, sheep or cows, which has been depilated, soaked and stretched on a wooden frame.
The story of paper
The key to papermaking is to soak bark, rags and other raw materials in water, chop them, wash them, cook them, rinse them, pound them, and then add water to create pulp.
