BOOKS

BOOKS

            In my week two discussion post, I listed books as the most obvious media technology.  Books are also one of the first ever media technologies to exist. Long before the invention of paper and the printing press, there were papyrus scrolls. Papyrus is a thin, paper like textile that is created from the pith (or stems) of the Papyrus plant. It was first discovered and manufactured in Southern Sudan and Egypt. The earliest surviving papyrus scroll known to man has been dated back to 2400BC. Parchment served as a transitional material between papyrus and paper and it was created from animal skins. Paper making as well as the first paper mill was established in Tuscany in 1276. This is an important year in the evolution of media technology as information now had a canvas. With the establishment on paper mills, paper became more prevalent and attainable. The next historic event to occur in the progression of manuscript happened in 1456. Johannes Gutenberg printed the Bible Mainz, Germany. “The Gutenberg Bible was the first complete book extant in the West” (Encyclopedia Britannica, 2014). It is unknown how many copies were originally printed but it is thought that approximately 40 are still in existence. As the first complete book, this served as a landmark event not only in the religious communities but throughout the world as well. In took another 244 years before the first significant books were printed from typecast plates. This bridged a major gap between early Southern Sudan and Egyptian papyrus and westernized media technology. (www.fsu.edu)