"Keith Houston's deft history of the object wraps entire civilizations into the telling, propelling us through the evolution of writing, printing, binding and illustration with gusto." -- Nature "...a splendidly comprehensive and tactile object...You can learn a lot from this book." -- The Herald "A love letter to the physical book, this is a fascinating and erudite telling of how it came into being...hugely enlightening...a definitive history of the printed book." -- The Yorkshire Post "This witty and mischievous tome traces the evolution from papyrus to paperback in 448 pages. It's an optimistic ode to one of mankind's greatest inventions, which continues to thrive even against the onslaught of e-readers." -- The Monocle Minute "Houston's book about the book-a handsome artefact as well as an informative, and inventive one-traces it from its origins in papyrus and parchment to the era of cheap paper, moveable type and mass production... riveting." -- The Scottish Review of Books

Keith Houston is the author of Shady Characters and the founder of shadycharacters.co.uk. He lives in London.