Interesting facts about books. History of the book. The first printed book

Reading expands the horizon, makes the brain work actively, allows you to distract from everyday problems and have a good time. About all this mankind is known is not the first century. What are some interesting facts about books? The answer to this question is offered in this article.

Interesting facts about books

Papyrus Prissa - the oldest book, miraculously preserved to our days. The author created his work back in 3350 BC. The history of the book indicates that it was discovered in the city of Thebes, where it was in one of the pyramids.

Surprisingly, the topic touched by the author is of interest to the inhabitants of the modern world. Priss in his work discusses the conflict of generations. The creator of the most ancient book complains about the evils of the youth who lived at that time. He reproaches the young men and women in laziness and lack of education, ascribing various vices to them. Nowadays the National Library, located in Paris, is papyrus.

"Diamond Sutra"

Interesting facts about the first printed book deserve attention. This is considered the "Diamond Sutra" - an Indian work, translated into Chinese. The Chinese Wang Chi stamped the work on May 11, 868.

An amazing book is a scroll consisting of six sheets of text. Also there is a sheet of engraving on which the Buddha is depicted. It is known that the Chinese craftsman worked very long to create this work. Stamps-hieroglyphs were made by a master of clay, then he burned them, using a special stove. Several times I had to start again to create cliches, but Van Chi turned out to be a stubborn man. The paper on which the Chinese stopped stopped was strong and thick, as he was striving for the long-lasting preservation of his book.

The invention of printing

It is known that the inventor of printing is the German Johann Gutenberg, it happened about 1445. Gutenberg created not only a printing press, but also an alloy designed to create printed characters, a dialectic apparatus, a collapsible font. Also on his account is the development of a special ink composition.

The Gutenberg Bible is the first printed book created by a brilliant German. It happened about the fifties of the fifteenth century. These were the times when the church had great power. Not surprisingly, about a third of all early printed books were devoted to religion. The first publishers did not seek a large number of copies - on average they were up to three hundred. In those years, the books still lacked a title page. Information about the author, the title of the work, the year of publication and so on was offered at the end. Only by the end of the 15th century this information was placed on the first page.

"Apostle" is the first printed book published in Russia, information about which has survived to this day. This honor belongs to the printer Ivan Fedorov, who lived in Moscow. It is known that work on this work was completed in 1564. Fifty copies, which have survived to this day, are considered rare. Do not exclude the existence of books released before this event.

The longest-suffering book

The Bible, perhaps, is the most long-suffering work in the world, which has survived to this day. The history of the book states that in 303 BC, King Diocletian ordered the killing of all members of the family if the Bible was found in the house. In 1229 the ban on reading this work for commoners was imposed by the Toulouse Cathedral. In 1793, the active struggle against the sacred book was led by the French government, which ruled for the "kingdom of reason". Those people who did not want to part with their faith, subjected to painful execution. Surprisingly, this decree lasted about four years.

What else can you tell us about the Bible? For example, it is worthwhile to know that no book that ever existed has managed to repeat its popularity. This product has been in constant high demand for more than two thousand years. A study conducted in 2013 showed that the Bible is published in 2056 languages and dialects, and there are no more than three thousand of them.

The Bible is a work not only long-suffering, but also prophetic. Scientists claim that more than 3,000 prophecies that are contained in the Holy Scriptures have already been realized.

About libraries

Of course, there are other amazing facts about books that may interest readers. For example, in the old days books were exhibited on shelves with rootlets inside. This was necessary in connection with the fact that the roots of the works were not strong. If they were treated inaccurately, they immediately broke away, as a result of which the books crumbled.

A few centuries ago, reading was a costly hobby, and it was available to mostly wealthy people. Books that were present in public libraries could not be stolen. To protect valuable volumes, long chains were used, with the help of which they were attached to shelves.

Surprisingly, "bookworms" are not only people who do not imagine life without reading. Insects that spoil volumes do exist.

The biggest

You can not ignore interesting facts about children's books. It is on the youngest readers that the work "The World's Largest Book for Kids" is oriented. The brainchild of the publishing house "In" was born in 2004. The length of the miracle-volume is six meters, the width is three meters. For comparison, the same size has an average room in a small apartment. The weight of the book, which totals 492 kg, also impresses. It presents poems of famous Russian authors, there are also colorful illustrations.

Previously, the status of the largest book in the world had "Superbook", released in Denver in 1976. Weight of the volume is 252 kg, it is inferior to "The world's largest book for kids" and in terms of dimensions.

The smallest

The smallest book in the world is also considered a work intended for toddlers. It's about the fairy tale "Old King Cole", published in 1985. Impressive in the first place is the size of the volume, which does not go beyond the millimeter in the square. Obviously, it is not possible to read a fairy tale without special equipment. There are 85 copies of the "Old King of Cole".

Similar sizes have other books, included in the list of the smallest volumes in the world. For example, the Constitution of France, the publication of the Koran, the dictionary of the English language, containing about 12 thousand words.

Amazing Collections

Of course, unusual facts about books do not end there. It's not a secret for anyone that you can not only read them, but also collect them. The amazing collection is collected by the Italian Rio Coselli. This man dreams of acquiring all the most boring works in the world and has already achieved obvious success in this field. His home collection contains more than ten thousand copies. Legend has it that one loser poet tried to put his hands on himself when he was informed that all his creations were present in the collection of Coselli.

Collections of books are collected in different ways, the owners buy them, receive them as inheritances or as gifts. The most original way was chosen by Stephen Bloomberg, who simply stole rare works. It is established that the library collected by the criminal consisted of approximately 23,000 copies. They were robbed of about 268 libraries. The cost of this collection was about $ 20 million. For penetration into the next library, Bloomberg was ready for anything. He even had to enter the building through the elevator shaft, and also use a ventilation system.

Our days

What are some interesting facts about contemporary books? Studies have shown that the bulk of visitors to bookshops are people who have already crossed the threshold of the fortieth. And most of this mass is made up of the fair sex.

Interesting facts about books indicate that audiobooks are very popular nowadays. Few people know that they were invented by a man who dreamed of using them to support blind and visually impaired people. The demand for e-books was predicted in the sixties of the last century, this honor belongs to science fiction writers.

Scientists argue that the reader's interest in a particular work begins to decline already when he gets to the eighteenth page. However, there is a book that still has to be read to the end. It has a saying name: "A book that can not know". The brainchild of the Argentinean publishing house is really best read immediately. Otherwise, the ink will disappear within two months, after which the reader will have to admire the blank pages.

What else do you need to know

What other interesting facts about books can be mentioned? The book, which has the most amazing title in the world, was released in 1633 in London. The title not only includes 45 lines, but almost entirely consists of swear words. This is a critical work about the theater, therefore, the title contains a scolding to the actors and directors.