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Papyrus: The Invention of Books in the Ancient World
An enthralling journey through the history of books and libraries in the ancient world and those who have helped preserve their rich literary traditions
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 Cleopatra's palaces and the scene of Hypatia's 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 women's 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.
Review
A literary phenomenon . . . didactic and daring . . . elegant and richly digressive. ― Times Literary Supplement
'A very free and very wise and very digressive journey through the world of the book from the creation of the Library of Alexandria to the fall of the Roman Empire; Irene Vallejo has delivered an outstanding, universal and unique book.' -- Jordi Carrión ― The New York Times
Vallejo enlivens history with imagination and personal anecdote as she traces the book's lineage from scrolls made of aquatic plant pith to codices and tablets, digressing to show how its development is interwoven with the development of western civilisation. Is Papyrus available as an ebook? Yes, but I'll bet any reader drawn to it is going to want to save up for the hardcover.' ― Observer
'Irene Vallejo has a writer's passion for books and a classicist's fascination with the way they came to be. She is also imaginative, lively and contemporary. In her hands written texts are not only a sensual pleasure, but living and frequently disruptive... Ms Vallejo has a notable talent for evoking ancient scenes. Her description, for example, of the poet Martial returning to Spain from Rome, near the end of the book, is masterly.' ― Economist
'Papyrus is packed with fascinating insights... Vallejo is a diligent scholar, excelling with her accounts of the human experience of books.' ― The i review
'One can be a masterful philologist and at the same time write like the angels. Irene Vallejo flips communication upside down until she turns her dialogue with the reader into a true literary feast.' -- Luis Alberto de Cuenca ― ABC
'Irene Vallejo has written an incredible, universal, and unique book which will no doubt become a classic.' -- Juan Bolea ― El Periódico de Aragón
'It's a joy to read Irene Vallejo's prose, she is such a brilliant creator and full of sensitivity.' -- Luis Landero
A fascinating and profound, yet delightfully personal take on books in the ancient world, with many illuminating insights into more modern literature and life. ― Paul Strathern, author of Ten Cities that Led the World
'In this fabulous, anecdote-filled history, award-winning Spanish writer Vallejo charts the fates and fortunes of books and libraries in the ancient world... As well as chronicling the thrills and spills of literary culture, she celebrates those whose heroic efforts ensured the continuity of the written word.' ― The Bookseller
'A mindboggling history of the earliest books... Vallejo is a novelist and she has a storyteller's ability to animate her subjects... and the story she tells is impressively rip-roaring... She draws a six-thousand-year line from the clay tablets of Mesopotamia to the e-reader tablets of today and leaves her readers inspired, invigorated and sincerely grateful for the invention of the book.' ― Henry Eliot, Daily Telegraph
About the Author
Irene Vallejo earned her European Doctorate from the Universities of Zaragoza and Florence. Papyrus was awarded the National Essay Prize, the Critical Eye Prize for Narrative and the Bookstore Recommendation Award, and will be published in thirty countries. She is a regular columnist for El
País and Heraldo de Aragón, and is the author of two children's books, two novels, and three collections of essays, articles, and short fiction.
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