Краткое содержание текста The Printed Word.

The earliest books were written on tablets of wood or pieces

of bark. In Greeceand Rome, the tablets of wood were covered with wax,

and writing was impressed upon them with a small stick called "stylus".

These tablets were held together on one side with thin strips of leather

or metal rings. In Assyria and Babyloniaclay tablets were used for

writing and the words were drawn with a piece of wood. After baking, the

tablets were kept on shelves, just like books are kept today. Although

the clay tablets didn’t look very beautiful, they were long-lasting and

some of them survived until the present day. The earliest books of the

ancient world were written on papyrus and skins of young animals. These

books took the form of a long strip, rolled from one cylinder to

another. These writings were known to the Romans as volumen

from which comes the word volume. Though paper has been known inChina

since the first century, the secret of papermaking came toEurope much

later.