What was the first book ever written?

It depends on how you define "book," I suppose... There has been verifiable writing since about the 3rd mil. BCE. Much of that, of course, has not survived.

These writings included things like the Ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead, the books of the Pentateuch, and Sumerian poetry and epic. It is very hard to date these definitively, so knowing which is "first" is difficult. ... If we looks at works still read today, the earliest would have to be the five books of the Hebrew Torah and the first five of the Christian Bible (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, known collectively as the Pentateuch).

Most scholars believe that those books were written between the 15th and 10th centuries BCE. However, the earliest surviving versions of the scriptures date only to about 200 BCE. It is known as the Septuagint and is written in Greek.

Other surviving versions are written in a combination of Hebrew and Aramaic. ... One of the earliest novel-like stories which survives (and is still read) today is the Epic of Gilgamesh, a Sumerian epic poem. The surviving version we have was written on clay tablets in the 7th century BCE, though the oral tradition certainly goes back much farther.

The epic is written in a form of writing called cuneiform, which is the earliest known (surviving) form of writing. Cuneiform consists of triangular wedges chiseled in different patterns into clay, rock or stone. Here is an example of what cuneiform looks like: ... Here is one of the surviving tablets of the Epic of Gilgamesh: As far as who would (or could) read these books, the answer was very few people.

Mostly these written records would have been for royalty or for religious figures, the only groups who might have been able to read during these early time period. Literacy was very limited (and in some cases being "literate" might only mean that a person was able to sign his/her name. ) The first evidence we have of a society with a comparatively high literacy rate is Ancient Rome.By about the 2nd century CE both private libraries and bookshops are relatively common in Rome, indicating at least some literacy.

It is also from this period that we find the oldest surviving "romance" stories such as Chaireas and Callirhoe and Daphnis and Chloe. Of course, our knowledge of what is "oldest" can change at any time. Below is an image of the Derveni papyrus, the oldest surviving "book" in the Western tradition, it dates from about 340 BC.

The Derveni papyrus was found in 1962 in the grave of an ancient nobleman. It anylzes/ comments on a poem about the Greek gods. Many scholars consider it to be the oldest survivng book in the western tradition (not including Gilgamesh and other Asian/ Middle Eastern writings) Hrm.

I kind of wandered afield there, didn’t I? Sorry! Hope you find this helpful and interesting, I certainly enjoyed the question!

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It all depends on what you mean by "book" If you mean "printed book," in the sense that we know it, the first real book printed from movable type in the Western world is generally considered to be the Gutenberg Bible, printed around 1455. Now, Gutenberg started printing from movable type around 1450, and he practiced on smaller projects before printing his Bible. However, moveable type was FIRST invented in Korea around 1230, but it was not widely used because of the immense amount of labor involved.

And woodblock printing was done even earlier in China. Buddhist scriptures were printed as early as the seventh century there. But of course, books were written in manuscript before printing was invented.

Cuneiform tablets date from the fourth millenium B.C. The Dead Sea Scrolls, which contain books of the Bible and other texts, date from 250 B.C. -100 A.D.Of course, in the early days of book production, only a small number of people could read--scholars, monks, and some wealthy people. It wasn’t until the nineteenth century that books started to be made for the masses. Of course, book production deteriorated because the goal was to produce lots of books cheaply.

A good incunable (a book printed in the fifteenth century) is far more durable that a nineteenth- or twentieth- century book printed from wood pulp. Widespread literacy, which we all think of as a positive goal, did come at a price. I see that you are from L.A.If you’d like to take a look at some examples of early printing and early books, you should pay a visit to the Huntington Library in San Marino.

They have a Gutenberg Bible on display, and lots of other early books. There will also be an international book fair at the Century Plaza Hotel in February, sponsored by the Antiquarian Booksellers Association of America. You’ll have the opportunity to see old books and manuscripts there. Sources: personal study; http://www.crystalinks.com/cuneiformtablets.html; http://www.google.com/search?q=movable+type+wikipedia&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woodblock_printing; http://www.huntington.org/LibraryDiv/LibraryHome.html; http://labookfair.com/ tabbycat's Recommendations ABC for Book Collectors Amazon List Price: $29.95 Average Customer Rating: 4.5 out of 5 (based on 9 reviews) tabbycat's Recommendations Five Hundred Years of Printing Amazon List Price: $29.95 Used from: $14.99 tabbycat's Recommendations A Short story of the Printed Word Amazon List Price: $24.95 Used from: $8.98 Average Customer Rating: 4.5 out of 5 (based on 5 reviews) tabbycat's Recommendations An Introduction to Book story Amazon List Price: $35.95 Used from: $23.00 Average Customer Rating: 4.0 out of 5 (based on 2 reviews) .

The Chinese have the oldest... "Lian Shan" which was the first written version of the I Ching (2400 B.C. Or so...) encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761567661/I... They also learned to bathe often to prevent disease and wash up before medical procedures about 3000 years before "we" did. The Yellow Emperors Classic (of Medicine) (200-500 B.C.) thenewmedicine.org/timeline/chinese_medi... Duplicitous's Recommendations The Yellow Emperor's Classic of Medicine: A New Translation of the Neijing Suwen with Commentary Amazon List Price: $24.95 Used from: $10.23 Average Customer Rating: 3.5 out of 5 (based on 8 reviews) The Medical Classic of the Yellow Emperor Amazon List Price: $44.95 Used from: $29.89 Average Customer Rating: 4.5 out of 5 (based on 2 reviews) The I Ching or Book of Changes Amazon List Price: $24.95 Used from: $9.50 Average Customer Rating: 5.0 out of 5 (based on 35 reviews) The Complete I Ching: The Definitive Translation by the Taoist Master Alfred Huang Amazon List Price: $14.953 Used from: $8.98 Average Customer Rating: 4.5 out of 5 (based on 26 reviews) .

Probably "The Epic of Gilgamesh" which goes back a couple of thousand years BCE in its oldest fragments but is known these days from later renditions. Among other things, it's one of, perhaps the primary, sources of the Biblical Flood Myth. Sources: us.imdb.com/title/tt0117039/ JBENZ's Recommendations The Epic of Gilgamesh: An English Verison with an Introduction (Penguin Classics) Amazon List Price: $9.95 Used from: $2.18 Average Customer Rating: 4.0 out of 5 (based on 37 reviews) Myths from Mesopotamia: Creation, the Flood, Gilgamesh, and Others (Oxford World's Classics) Amazon List Price: $13.95 Used from: $6.75 Average Customer Rating: 4.5 out of 5 (based on 16 reviews) .

It is... the Bible. The Bible is considered the oldest book. There very well may have been other books written, but they have not survived.

There is a copy of the book of Psalms that was found with a mummy in Cairo in 1984 that is considered the oldest book found. The Bible was passed from one person to another over time and re-written many times. Note from Bible Resources: "What is the oldest book in the Old Testament?

Many scholars agree that Job is the oldest book in the Bible, written by an unknown Israelite about 1500 B.C. Others hold that the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Bible) are the oldest books in the Bible, written between 1446 and 1406 B.C. " Sources: http://bibleresources.bible.com/afacts.php .

I"ve readall her books. " "Has anyone read any books written by Steven Lobel and if so which book was it" "Who has written the most books ever, living or dead?" "what are the best books written by convicted criminals? " "I have written several books and I need to know where to go to submit them.

I DO NOT want to self-publish." "which was the first book written? " "what are the six books written by jane austin? " "looking for books written by khaled hosseini" "looking for books written in hungarien language" "Pocket Books: A book of origins of language items: why '13' is unlucky, etc.Written by a rabbi.

Has anyone read any books written by Steven Lobel and if so which book was it.

I have written several books and I need to know where to go to submit them. I DO NOT want to self-publish.

Looking for books written by khaled hosseini.

Looking for books written in hungarien language.

Pocket Books: A book of origins of language items: why '13' is unlucky, etc. Written by a rabbi.

I cant really gove you an answer,but what I can give you is a way to a solution, that is you have to find the anglde that you relate to or peaks your interest. A good paper is one that people get drawn into because it reaches them ln some way.As for me WW11 to me, I think of the holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors, their families and those who stood by and did nothing until it was too late.