Papyrus: The Invention of Books in the Ancient World by Irene Vallejo Hodder and Stoughton 464 pages, £25
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You might assume that a book about books (more specifically, about their early history) would tell a worthy but somewhat dull tale – astory of aged scholars confined to dusty libraries, perhaps, far removed from the routines and occasional dramas of the real world. That assumption would, however, be wrong. Papyrus is far from dull.