The Book

This book tells the romantic and fascinating story of one of mankind's greatest achievements - the printed book. Behind the production of the books of today there lies a long history of inventive and creative effort, the work of innumerable artists and craftsmen throughout centuries, from the far-off days when books were written, letter by letter and word by word, by the careful hands of skillful scribes. And behind even the first written book there lies the dim and obscure history of the beginnings of writing and the origin and spread of our alphabets, without which books of any kind are impossible. The Book tells the story of how books came into being and of those earliest books that were written and illustrated by hand. It tells of the invention of printing and of how that invention made it possible for books to be produced so cheaply and in such quantities that all men might have them.