About the book
Irene Vallejo's history of books in the ancient world goes back to a time when, long before mass production, hand-copied scrolls made from Nile reeds were treasures worth fighting for, and emperors and pharaohs sent envoys to the far reaches of the known world to obtain them. Vallejo follows the written word from oral tradition through scrolls to codices, with stops at Alexander the Great's battlefields, Cleopatra's palaces, the eruption of Vesuvius and the murder of Hypatia. Scribes, librarians, booksellers and spies appear, along with parallels to the present: Aristophanes and the censorship of satirists, Sappho and women's voices, Seneca and a post-truth world. She mixes these stories with readings of the classics and personal reflection.
Ryan Holiday, naming it among the very best books he read in 2024, marveled at its subject, the invention and impact of paper.
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This book has 1 recommendation
Ryan Holiday (Media Strategist, Author, Founder/Brass Check)
And oh my god, Papyrus is one of the most impressive examples of that I can recall (the invention and the impact of paper???).
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