Here is an original and exciting new guide to writing - the variety of scripts and the different ways they have been written down. Stunning full-color photographs of ancient clay tablets, pens and inks, printing presses and books offer a unique eyewitness view of the written word. See books written on ivory and bamboo, the handwriting of Washington and Napoleon, the earliest printed book and how Chinese calligraphers mix their ink. Learn how medieval librarians stopped people from stealing books, how manuscripts were illuminated, how to write on a clay tablet and why early printing presses had a coffin. Discover which famous inventor used mirror writing, how a bookbinder puts a book together, how the first libraries began and why the Egyptians had three different scripts, and much, much more!