Categories: Literature: History & Criticism Literary Studies: General General & World History Regional & National History History Of Other Lands Ancient History: To C 500 CE Classical History / Classical Civilisation History Of Engineering & Technology Inventions & Inventors


Papyrus : The No 1 International Bestseller
4.28 (11,318 ratings by Goodreads)
Paperback English
By (author) Irene Vallejo


A FINANCIAL TIMES BEST BOOK OF 2022

A literary phenomenon. - Times Literary Supplement

Imaginative, lively and contemporary...masterly. - Economist

A panoramic survey of how books shaped not just the ancient world but ours too. - Guardian
- Observer

A mindboggling history of the earliest books... the story she tells is impressively rip-roaring - Daily Telegraph

Packed with fascinating insights. - The i Review


Long before books were mass produced, those made of reeds from along the Nile were worth fighting and dying for. Journeying along the battlefields of Alexander the Great, beneath the eruptions of Mount Vesuvius, at Cleopatras palaces and the scene of Hypatias murder, award-winning author Irene Vallejo chronicles the excitement of literary culture in the ancient world, and the heroic efforts that ensured this impressive tradition would continue.

Weaved throughout are fascinating stories about the spies, scribes, illuminators, librarians, booksellers, authors, and statesmen whose rich and sometimes complicated engagement with the written word bears remarkable similarities to the world today: Aristophanes and the censorship of the humourists, Sappho and the empowerment of womens voices, Seneca and the problem of a post-truth world.

Vallejo takes us to mountainous landscapes and the roaring sea, to the capitals where culture flourished and the furthest reaches where knowledge found refuge in chaotic times. In this sweeping tour of the history of books, the wonder of the ancient world comes alive and along the way we discover the singular power of the written word.


Product details

Format Paperback | 464 pages
Dimensions 152 x 232 x 38mm | 575g
Publication date 03 Nov 2022
Publisher Hodder & Stoughton
Publication City/Country London, United Kingdom
Language English
ISBN10 1529343976
ISBN13 9781529343977
Bestsellers rank 114,203