Did you ever wonder what the first books were like? European monks started making them many, many years ago in the Middle Ages. They did not have a printing press so each book was made by hand. The monks who made books were called scribes.
Here a scribe is working on a book. It looks like he is writing on paper but it is really the skin of a calf, also called vellum. People in Europe did not have much paper until the 15th century.
Photo: A scribe in his study. Courtesy of DScriptorium
