Origins 
Writing is the state of the existence of text in a book. It is a system of linguistic symbols which permit one to transmit and conserve abstract notions. Writing appears to have 
developed between the ninth century BC and the fourth century BC, first in the form of images which became a system of pictographs through simplification. From that beginning, 
ideograms were born, and then phonetic signs that symbolized specific sounds, now known as syllables and letters.

Silk, in China, was also a base for writing. Writing was done with brushes. Many other materials were used as bases: bone, bronze, pottery, shell, etc. In India, for example, dried palm 
tree leaves were used. Any material which will hold and transmit text is a candidate for books. Given this, the human body could be seen as a book, with tattooing, and if we consider 
that human memory develops and transforms with the appearance of writing, it is perhaps not absurd to consider that this ability makes humans into living books (this idea is illustrated 
by Ray Bradbury in Fahrenheit 451, Peter Greenaway in The Pillow Book).

The book is also linked to the desire of humans to create lasting records. Stones could be the most ancient form of writing, but wood would be the first medium to take the guise of a 
book. The words biblos and liber first meant "fibre inside of a tree". In Chinese, the character that means book is an image of a tablet of bamboo. Wood tablets have also been found 
on Easter Island.

Clay tablets
Clay tablets were used in Mesopotamia in the third millennium BC. The calamus, an instrument in the form of a triangle, was used to make characters in moist clay. The tablets were 
fired to dry them out. At Nineveh, 22,000 tablets were found, dating from the seventh century BC; this was the library of the kings of Assyria, who had workshops of copyists and 
conservationists at their disposal. This presupposes a degree of organization with respect to books, consideration given to conservation, classification, etc.

Wax tablets
Romans used wax-coated wooden tablets upon which they could write and erase by using a stylus. One end of the stylus was pointed, and the other was spherical. These tables could 
be assembled in a form similar to a codex. For example, they served to teach writing to children, according to the methods discussed by Quintilian in his "Institution Oratorio".

Papyrus
Tablets were replaced by volumina, or rolls of papyrus, which were lighter and easier to transport. This proved to be the most common writing material in antiquity.

Production
After extracting the marrow from the stems, a series of steps (humidification, pressing, drying, gluing, and cutting), produced media of variable quality, the best being used for sacred 
writing. A calamus, the stem of a reed sharpened to a point, or bird feathers were used for writing. The script of Egyptian scribes was called hieratic, or sacredotal writing; it is not 
hieroglyphic, but a simplified form more adapted to manuscript writing (hieroglyphs usually being engraved or painted).

Papyrus books
Egyptian Papyrus  books were in the form of a roll of several sheets pasted together, for a total length of up to 10 meters. Some books, such as the history of the reign of 
Ramses III, were over 40 meters long. Books rolled out horizontally; the text occupied one side, and was divided into columns. The title was indicated by a label attached to the cylinder 
containing the book. Many papyrus texts come from tombs, where prayers and sacred texts were deposited (such as the Book of the Dead, from the early second millennium BC).

These examples demonstrate that the development of the book, in its material makeup and external appearance, depended on a content dictated by political (the histories of 
pharaohs) and religious (belief in an afterlife) values. The particular influence afforded to writing and word perhaps motivated research into ways of conserving texts. These political 
and cultural influences on the history of the book will be further demonstrated later.

Parchment
Parchment progressively replaced papyrus. Legend attributes its invention to Eumenes II, the king of Pergamon, from which comes the name "pergamineum," which became 
"parchment." Its production began around the third century BC. Made using the skins of animals (sheep, cattle, donkey, antelope, etc.), parchment proved easier to conserve over 
time; it was more solid, and allowed one to erase text. It was a very expensive medium because of the rarity of material and the time required to produce a document.

Greece and Rome
The roll of papyrus is called "volumen" in Latin, a word which signifies "circular movement," "roll," "spiral," "whirlpool," "revolution" and finally "a roll of writing paper, a rolled 
manuscript, or a book."

Description
The volume is rolled around two vertical wooden axes. This design allows only sequential usage; one is obliged to read the text in the order in which it is written, and it is impossible 
to place a marker in order to directly access a precise point in the text. It is comparable to modern video cassettes. Moreover, the reader must use both hands to hold on to the vertical 
wooden rolls and therefore cannot read and write at the same time. The only volumen in common usage today is the Jewish Torah.

Book Culture
The authors of Antiquity had no rights concerning their published works; there were neither authors' nor publishing rights. Anyone could have a text recopied, and even alter its 
contents. Editors earned money and authors earned mostly glory; a book made its author immortal. This followed the traditional conception of the culture: an author stuck to several 
models, which he imitated and attempted to improve. The status of the author was not regarded as absolutely personal.

From a political and religious point of view, books were censored very early: the works of Protagoras were even burned, because he denied that one could know whether or not the 
gods existed. Generally, cultural conflicts led to important periods of book destruction: in 303, the emperor Diocletian ordered the burning of Christian texts. Christians later burned 
libraries. These practices are found throughout human history. One sees what is at stake in these battles over the book: the effort to remove all traces of adversarial ideas and thereby 
to deprive posterity these works. One violently strikes out at an author when one attacks his or her works; it is a form of violence perhaps more effective than physical attack.

But there also exists a less visible but nonetheless effective form of censorship when books are reserved for the elite; the book was not originally a media for expressive liberty. It may 
serve to confirm the values of a political system, as during the reign of the emperor Augustus, who skillfully surrounded himself with great authors. This is a good ancient example of the 
control of the media by a political power.

Proliferation and conservation of books in Greece
Little information concerning books in Ancient Greece survives. Several vases (sixth Century BC and fifth century BC) bear images of volumina. There was undoubtedly no extensive 
trade in books, but there existed several sites devoted to the sale of books.

The spread of books, and attention to their cataloging and conservation, as well as literary criticism developed during the Hellenistic period with the creation of large libraries in 
response to the desire for knowledge exemplified by Aristotle. These libraries were undoubtedly also built as demonstrations of political prestige:

The Library of Alexandria, 

a library created by Ptolemy Soter and set up by Demetrios of Phaleron. It contained 500,000 volumes (in the Museion section) and 40,000 at the Serapis 
temple (Serapeion). The Museion was partially destroyed in 47 BC. 
The Library at Pergamon, founded by Attalus I; it contained 200,000 volumes which were moved to the Serapeion by Anthony and Cleopatra, after the destruction of the Museion. The 
Serapeion was partially destroyed in 391 CE by Christians, and the last books disappeared in 641 CE following the Arab conquest. 
The Library at Athens, the Ptolemaion, which gained importance following the destruction of the Library at Alexandria ; the library of Pantainos, around 100 CE; the library of Hadrian, 
in 132 CE. 
The Library at Rhodes, a library that rivaled the Library of Alexandria. 
The Library at Antioch, a public library of which Euphorion of Chalcis was the diector near the end of the third century. 
The libraries had copyist workshops, and the general organisation of books allowed for the following:

Conservation of an example of each text 
Translation (the Septuagint Bible, for example) 
Literary criticisms in order to establish reference texts for the copy (example : The Iliad and The Odyssey) 
A catalog of books 
The copy itself, which allowed books to be disseminated 

Book production in Rome
Book production developed in Rome in the first century BC with Latin literature that had been influenced by the Greek.

This diffusion primarily concerned circles of literary individuals. Atticus was the editor of his friend Cicero. However, the book business progressively extended itself through the 
Roman Empire; for example, there were bookstores in Lyon. The spread of the book was aided by the extension of the Empire, which implied the imposition of the Latin tongue on a 
great number of people (in Spain, Africa, etc.).

Libraries were private or created at the behest of an individual. Julius Caesar, for exampled, wanted to establish one in Rome, proving that libraries were signs of political prestige.

In the year 377, there were 28 libraries in Rome, and it is known that there were many smaller libraries in other cities. Despite the great distribution of books, scientists do not have a 
complete picture as to the literary scene in antiquity as thousands of books have been lost through time.

Middle ages

The codex Manesse, a book from the middle ages. At the end of antiquity, between the second century and fourth century, the codex replaced the volume. The book was no longer a 
continuous roll, but a collection of sheets attached at the back. It became possible to access a precise point in the text directly. The codex is equally easy to rest on a table, which 
permits the reader to take notes while he or she is reading. The codex form improved with the separation of words, capital letters, and punctuation, which permitted silent reading. 
Tables of contexts and indices facilitated direct access to information. This form was so effective that it is still the standard book form, over 1500 years after its appearance.

Paper would progressively replace parchment. Cheaper to produce, it allowed a greater diffusion of books.

Books in monasteries
A number of Christian books were destroyed at the order of Diocletian in 304 CE. During the turbulent periods of the invasions, it was the monasteries that conserved religious texts 
and certain works of Antiquity for the West. But there would also be important copying centers in Byzantium.

The role of monasteries in the conservation of books is not without some ambiguity:

Reading was an important activity in the lives of monks, which can be divided into prayer, intellectual work, and manual labor (in the Benedictine order, for example). It was therefore 
necessary to make copies of certain works. There therefore existed "scriptoria" (the plural of "scriptorium") in many monasteries, where manuscripts where monks copied and 
decorated manuscripts that had been preserved. 
However, the conservation of books was not exclusively in order to preserve ancient culture; it was especially relevant to understanding religious texts with the aid of ancient 
knowledge. Some works were never recopied, having been judged too dangerous for the monks. Morever, in need of blank media, the monks scraped off manuscripts, thereby 
destroying ancient works. The transmission of knowledge was centered primarily on sacred texts. 

Copying and conserving books

A scribe at work copying. Despite this ambiguity, monasteries in the West and the Eastern Empire permitted the conservation of a certain number of secular texts, and several libraries 
were created: for example, Cassiodorus ('Vivarum' in Calabro, around 550), or Constantine I in Constantinople. There were several libraries, but the survival of books often depended 
on political battles and ideologies, which sometimes entailed massive destruction of books or difficulties in production (for example, the distribution of books during the Iconoclasm 
between 730 and 842).

The scriptorium
The scriptorium was the workroom of monk copyists; here, books were copies, decorated, rebound, and conserved. The armarius directed the work and played the role of librarian.

The role of the copyist was multifaceted: for example, thanks to their work, texts circulated from one monastery to another. Copies also allowed monks to learn texts and to perfect their 
religious education. The relationship with the book thus defined itself according to an intellectual relationship with God. But if these copies were sometimes made for the monks 
themselves, there were also copies made on demand.

The task of copying itself had several phases: the preparation of the manuscript in the form of notebooks once the work was complete, the presentation of pages, the copying itself, 
revision, correction of errors, decoration, and binding. The book therefore required a variety of competencies, which often made a manuscript a collective effort.

Transformation from the literary edition in the twelfth century
The revival of cities in Europe will change the conditions of book production and extend its influence, and the monastic period of the book will come to an end. This revival 
accompanies the intellectual renaissance of the period. It is around the first universities that new structures of production develop: reference manuscripts are used by students and 
professors for teaching theology and liberal arts. The development of commerce and of the bourgeoisie brings with it a demand for specialized and general texts (law, history, novels, 
etc.). And it is in this period that writing in the common vernacular develops (courtly poetry, novels, etc.). The profession of book seller becomes more and more important.

There is also the creation of royal libraries: by Saint Louis and Charles V for example. Books are also collected in private libraries, which will take on a major scale in the fourteenth 
century and fifteenth century.

The use of paper becomes diffuse in Europe in the fourteenth century. This material, less expensive than parchment, came from China via the Arabs in Spain in the eleventh and 
twelfth century. It was used in particular for des éditions commodes, while parchment was used for luxury editions.

Books in the Orient

China
The book (on bone, shells, wood and silk) existed in China by the second century BC. Paper was invented in China around the first century.

The discovery of the process using the bark of the blackbery bush is attributed to Ts'ai Louen, but it may be older. Texts were reproduced with the use of seals engraved in relief. In the 
eleventh century, a blacksmith, Pi Cheng, invented les caractères moles, but this technique was rarely employed, possibly because of the poor quality of the ink. The Uyghurs of 
Turkistan also used this technique.

The book existed in several forms in China: books in rolls, wood engraving, spiral books, edge-bound books, and butterfly books.

Arab civilization
In the eighth century, Arabs learn how to make Chinese paper and spread the knowledge in Europe. They construct impressive libraries, worthy of their great culture. It is the Arabs 
who transmit the majority of Greek works to Europe. One example is the rediscovery of the works of Aristotle with commentary by Avicenne, which occasioned strong bookish quarrels 
between Thomas Aquinas et Siger of Brabant.

Movable type
The development of printing techniques by Gutenberg around 1440 marks the entry of the book into the industrial age. The book was no longer a single object, written or reproduced 
by request. The publication of a book became an enterprise, requiring capital for its realization and a market for its distribution. The cost of each individual book was lowered 
enormously, which in turn increased the distribution of books. The book in codex form and printed on paper, as we know it today, dates from the fifteenth century. Books printed before 
January 1, 1501, are called incunables.

Contemporary era
The demands of the British and Foreign Bible Society (founded 1804), the American Bible Society (founded 1816), and other non-denominational publishers for enormously large and 
impossibly inexpensive runs of texts led to numerous innovations. The introduction of steam printing presses a little before 1820, closely followed by new steam paper mills, 
constituted the two most major innovations. Together, they caused book prices to drop and the number of books to increase considerably. Numerous bibliographic features, like the 
positioning and formulation of titles and subtitles, were also affected by this new production method. New types of documents appeared later in the nineteenth century: photography, 
sound recording and film.

A series of new developments occurred in the 1990s. The spread of digital multimedia, which encodes texts, images, animations, and sounds in a unique and simple form is a novel 
development. Hypertext further improved access to information. Finally, the internet lowered production and distribution costs, as did printing at the end of the Middle Ages.

It is difficult to predict the future of the book. A good deal of reference material, designed for direct access instead of sequential reading, as for example encyclopedias, exist less and 
less in for the form of books and more and more on the web. However, electronic books, or e-books, have not had much success to date. One can speculate that the codex form has a 
long future for everything that requires sequential reading, or for those texts which are as much objects of beauty as they are foundations for information: novels, essays, comic books 
or art books.