Book Making

The recording of our thoughts …The evolution of the book from papyrus in Egypt and paper in China, through vellum and the codex to the manuscripts transcribed by medieval monks.

Chronological Timetable of Book History. Clay tablets, papyrus, bamboo, parchment, wax tablets, and paper were all used between 3500 and 100 BC. Timetable extends to 16th C.

http://www.xs4all.nl/~knops/timetab.html

Today, the world "book" brings to mind a rectangular object. Upon opening the book's cover we can flip through many thin sheets of paper perfectly aligned and secured into a sturdy spine. We use books for entertainment, information, and other reasons. We rarely stop the think about the origin of this common object. To judge from the surviving written materials, it appears that man has attempted to record his thoughts and experiences since, at least, the sixteenth century before Christ. The earliest written materials found in the world date back to this time. Many materials were used to construct these written materials in ancient times. Leaves, bark, wood, pot-sherds and clay were all materials used for shorter texts. Books and long literary or poetic collections were not recorded on these materials. The most popular materials used in ancient Greece and Rome for making books, not merely documents, were papyrus, leather, and vellum. Papyrus rolls existed for many centuries and they were followed by vellum codices.

Most likely, the Greeks did not use leather as often as they used papyrus or vellum as writing materials. Herodotus stated that leather was probably used when papyrus was not readily available (Kenyon 1951, p. 44). Greek literature may have been recorded on leather, but if so, no trace of such leather books survives. If leather was ever used regularly, it was probably earlier than the times of the Greeks and Romans.

http://www.unc.edu/courses/rometech/public/content/arts_and_crafts/Meredith_Drye/Ancient_Bookmaking.htm