The question of which book can be considered the oldest worries many. Scientists are constantly conducting research in the hope of making high-profile discoveries, and the history of typography and writing in general is constantly changing. What books have survived to this day, and what knowledge do they store in themselves?
The very first books in the world appeared in Mesopotamia more than five thousand years ago. They were clay tablets, on which wedge-shaped signs were applied with pointed sticks.
These tablets were burned in the fire and became as strong as stone. Each book consisted of dozens or even hundreds of tablets stacked in wooden boxes. The last ruler of Assyria, King Ashurbanipal (669-633 BC), went down in history - he was the only king who knew cuneiform and collected a huge library, which consisted of tens of thousands of books on various topics: medicine, mathematics, history, geography, etc..d. The king's palace was destroyed in a fire, but most of these clay books have survived to this day and helped scientists learn the history of the ancient Mesopotamian states, and works of art became the property of world literature.
Papyrus instead of paper
The ancient Egyptians used papyrus, which grew along the banks of the Nile, for writing - cut, dried and smoothed plant stems were glued together, and the inscriptions were applied with a thin reed and red and black paint. Papyrus books were folded into scrolls for convenience, after which they were stored in wooden or leather cases.
All over the world people have used various materials to create books since ancient times. The oldest book in China was written on bamboo, long before the invention of paper. In Russia, books were made on birch bark, and in India - on palm leaves, neatly stitched and enclosed in a wooden binding. Also common material for creating books, especially among pastoralist tribes, was leather of animals. And the city of Pergamum, Asia Minor, gained fame thanks to the invention of parchment, which was used as a material for writing for long two millennia.
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The oldest book written in Russia and preserved to this day is the Novgorod Psalter, created on wood, presumably in 1036.
This book consists of four wooden boards, the size of which is 19x15x1 cm. It contains the oldest Russian book, mainly psalms.
First printing house
With the development of the printing industry and the advent of book-printing presses, replacing meticulous and complex manual labor, book-printing has reached a completely new level. The very first printed book, made by typographic method, was created in the period from 1450 to 1455. This is the bible of the German inventor and goldsmith Gutenberg.
As far as is known, Gutenberg printed about 180 copies of the oldest printed book, of which 12 copies have survived in Germany, 11 in the USA, 8 in Great Britain, and some in other countries. This book is one of the most valuable in the world, and not only among bibliophiles - at the Christie's auction in 1987, 324 pages of the book were sold for almost $ 5 million.
It is worth noting that historians and researchers still cannot come to a consensus on the most ancient book. Their disputes are based both on the question of what exactly is considered a book, and on unconfirmed data on the creation of one or another manuscript.