The Book: A Cover-to-Cover Exploration of the Most Powerful Object of Our Time

Contents: 

• A clean sheet: The invention of papyrus
• Hidebound: The grisly invention of parchment
• Pulp fictions: The ambiguous origins of paper in China
• From Silk Road to paper trail: Paper goes global
• Stroke of genius: The arrival of writing
• The prints and the pauper: Johannes Gutenberg and the invention of movable type
• Out of sorts: Typesetting meets the Industrial Revolution
• Saints and scriveners: The rise of the illuminated manuscript
• Ex Oriente lux: Woodcut comes to the West
• Etching a sketch: Copperplate printing and the Renaissance
• Better imaging through chemistry: Lithography, photography, and modern book printing
• Books before the book: Papyrus scrolls and wax tablets
• Joining the folds: The invention of the codex
• Ties that bind: Binding the paged book
• Size matters: The invention of the modern book