Origin of books

For those who today is dazzled with the convenience offered by e-books, does not even imagine the long path taken by books in history. Writing partner, the books were of great importance for the realization of historical records, the compilation of laws and dissemination of ideas. Currently, the production of books reached such an extent that, for example, the twentieth century was responsible for a historical literature on top of all other ages added together!

In ancient Egypt, the ancestor of the books were designed by papyrus. Transformed into important activity, writing on papyrus was exclusively performed by a class of scribes responsible for reading and production of official and religious texts. Researchers say the most ancient papyrus pieces ever found were designed for three thousand years before Christ. To organize these documents, papyrus sheets were nailed to each other forming a single roll.

By the tenth century. C., the organization of written documents gained greater functionality with the invention of the scrolls. Despite not having the same practicality of bound, this base material was of paramount importance for the preservation of important texts of antiquity, as the Holy Bible and the writings of some thinkers of the classical world. It is worth emphasizing that the quality and strength of the scrolls was superior to papyrus.

The design of the hardback was already attempted at that time. To this end, took the scrolls available and was realized the organization of each of the alleged pages. Known as codex (codex, in Portuguese) these first editions facilitated the movement and handling of written texts. Already in the late antiquity, around 404, St. Jerome recorded an extensive theory about the ways in which it would be possible to produce a book.

In the medieval period, access to the literate world was practically restricted to clerics. Much of the book was enclosed under the protection of monasteries and had his wisdom kept by the extensive work of copyist monks. In this respect, it is worth noting that the Church played a key role in several texts of Greek and Roman culture were preserved. In such a time, it was common for calls illuminations memorized footer and paragraphs from books with beautiful pictures.

In 1454, the manufacturing process and dissemination of books suffered a huge qualitative leap with the invention of the press. Developed by Johannes Gutenberg, this machine allowed the manufacturing process of the books were streamlined. Despite the importance of done, we found that in the modern age reading and writing still kept tied to privileges enjoyed by elites. Reading and writing were still pleasures for the enriched noble and bourgeois.

The nineteenth century, as the son of technological innovations, marked a time of great productions. It is worth noting that the National States liberalization has greatly influenced the spread of public education and the consequent increase in the number of readers. With the cheapening of production costs, the reading went on to achieve large portions of the population. From then born the famous and still very popular "best-sellers".