Papyrus: the invention of books in the Ancient World

Spanish Author, Irene Vallejo, has written a detailed account of the importance of reading over thousands of years in the ancient world. Although the book is divided primarily into the study of the importance of books in the Greek and Roman empires it also covers the importance of reading to other communities.

Papyrus: the invention of books in the ancient world looks at the development of libraries whether the collections consisted of clay tablets, papyrus or vellum documents. One of the first libraries was the Library of Alexandria.

During the work the author also discusses the importance of some of the early writers and their works, some of which remain today. Some of the authors discussed include Homer, Socrates and Euripides. She also looks at the small amount that has survived of works written by women at that time as well as works such as Medea by Euripides which feature women. 

This is an informative work about the development and importance of literature and libraries in our history - something we take for granted in our country today.