The chief value of this work is in its collection of photographs of rare and unique manuscripts and its mass of empirical data; therefore this effort of Dr. David Diringer - 'THE BOOK BEFORE PRINTING: Ancient, Medieval, and Oriental (c.1953, 1982), becomes a nice compendium of evidence rather than a plausible theory of the development of the modern book.

Indeed this author's use of the word 'book' to designate any written material is a source of ambiguity as Dr. Diringer further refined his definition of a book to only the written word found "on perishible material such as wood, leather, or papyrus" (p. 48). So according to this author, only the written word found on clay, rolls, scrolls, leather parchments, linen, and waxed boards up to and including the codex are books - but not stone tablets, cave etchings, monument markings or metal stampings.

Though other studies begin their histories of the book with the codex (e.g. THE CODEX by Dr. Roberts; and THE BIRTH OF THE CODEX by C. H. Roberts), this author's extension of his book definition back to the furthest reaches of human civilization had inadvertently provided the reader with such a broad survey of data that few students will not be instructed by the many well chosen photographs of the rare and ancient manuscripts the author collected to use as examples of books.

In fact, the sheer volume of the photocopied documents almost compelled a reader to turn another page. In chronological order, each photocopy of a scroll, parchment, or codex coincided with Dr. Diringer's explanation of a period in a country's ancient history in which that document was produced. (This is a point where the author's expertise in writing tended to displace his main theme of book history). Yet some documents have achieved such a mythical quality, as 'Beowulf' or the 'Iliad' that it is striking to see a clear, legible photocopy on a following page.

Dr. Diringer made his work further interesting by juxtaposing several copies of ancient manuscripts for either penmanship, language, material, or size comparison. This is exceedingly convenient as the author provided a quick reference of distinguishing artifact features; such as: "National Hands" (p. 286) of 7th century Merovingian with the Visogothic cursive; and the 9th century Roman minuscule with the 10th century Benevendon script. The author provided a clear view of such esoteric documents as: the Lipit-Ishtar Law Code (4,500 B.C.); the Codex Sinaitus (4th century), and the earliest Japanese written document - the 'Shotoku Taishi (573 a.d.). Thus the mere perusal of THE BOOK BEFORE PRINTING will become a learning experience as the bibliophile might discover a rare document containing an alphabet or language (or the existence of a race) new to his studies. The sheer beauty and antiquity of some of these manuscripts, such as 'The Book of Kells', or the 15th century illuminated copy of 'Chaucer', and the clay Summerian tablet of the 'Hammurabi Law Code' written in cuneiform, are magnificent.

Originally published as THE HAND PRODUCED BOOK (c. 1953); THE BOOK BEFORE PRINTING is not so much a history of the book as it is many histories of the written word. Containing few mistakes (I found one spelling error on page 75; and the original title is still extant on top of each text page) Dr. Diringer had produced an excellent and valuable reference tool for the general reader as well as the scholar. If you need to choose a subject topic for an English, History, Archaeological, or palaeological disertation then THE BOOK BEFORE PRINTING might help you in that choice. So even if you don't believe that a scroll is a book, Dr. David Diringer's work is still worth reading.

"The Book Before Printing" by David Deringer is more than a book for bibliophiles: it is a mind-bogglingly comprehensive history of the roots of our common intellectual culture. From the oldest fragment of an Egyptian book c.2600 BCE, through clay tablets, papyrus, leather and parchment scrolls, to codices (that is, books as we have come to know them) in the early centuries of the Common Era, from prehistoric and non-literate symbolic/memnonic schemes, through early writing systems of Africa and Asia, to alphabets and scripts, Diringer examines every bit of evidence that was available up to the early 50's, when the book was written, to reveal archeological, cultural, linguistic, and religious trends through the millenia, and how scribes functioned, in their various settings, to bring us what remains of of distant literary past. He delves into the remotest corners of the globe for unexpected insights and manuscripts. Illustrations are abundant and well-described. I can only wonder what an edition updated to include all the most recent discoveries would be like. Probably huge! But even as it is,this book is a goldmine of information, and a feast for the mind.

This is a reprint of Diringer's "The Hand-produced Book". If you like books, you will LOVE this. You will beat yourself on the head and say, "Where has it been all my life?"
Diringer wrote "The Alphabet" and "The Illuminated Book", as well. All of these are easily accessible to the educated layman, and each is a rollicking good time. Alphabet and Illuminated are out of print. I found each of the 3 titles through the interlibrary loan program, but it would be a groove to actually own them.
Diringer is erudite, with a charming style. The illustrations in all the books are excellent.
What are you waiting for? THIS IS IT.

I was so excited to find this book on my university library shelf... the orignal 2 volume set, that is. I couldn't find those anywhere, so finally I ordered the new version. This one is printed in New Delhi and has a very shabby binding. The examples seem to be all hand-drawn and crude compared to the older books. It still gives an excellent view of all alphabets of all time.

This book is one of the most fascinating vademecums ever written. Just about every alphabet and most more complex scripts ever devised by human beings are given here, with complete tables of the characters and their values. An attempt is made to trace the history of alphabetic writing back to its origin in the Middle East. The text itself deserves a five star rating

The production of this edition deserves a one.... mine had apparently been treated rather shabbily in the passage from the Indian subcontinent (where a guide to alphabets must be quite handy) to the USA.

I've wanted one of these ever since reading it on the shelves of the public library....