On This Page
Tags
Recommendations
Member Reviews
A history of writing from the earliest picture drawings of early man to the spread of the alphabet by the Phoenicians and ending with a photoessay of calligraphy from Japan to medieval Europe. While an older book it was quite interesting because of the lavish use of photos and drawings. The author doesn't assume that he has the last word on the development of writing and hints that new discoveries may change some of our ideas. I would like to find a good article or short book that does update his information but this book was worth the time I spent because of the illustrations alone.
Ratings
Members
- Recently Added By
Author Information
18+ Works 1,087 Members
402 Works 13,964 Members
Some Editions
Series
Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- The Birth of Writing
- Original publication date
- 1974
- First words
- Among all the revolutionary creations of man, writing ranks as the supreme intellectual achievement.
- Original language
- English
Classifications
- Genres
- Nonfiction, Anthropology, History, General Nonfiction
- DDC/MDS
- 417.7 — Language Linguistics Dialectology and historical linguistics Historical linguistics (Diachronic linguistics)
- LCC
- P211 .C59 — Language and Literature Philology. Linguistics Language. Linguistic theory. Comparative grammar Comparative grammar
Statistics
- Members
- 132
- Popularity
- 246,961
- Reviews
- 1
- Rating
- (3.77)
- Languages
- 6 — Czech, Dutch, English, French, German, Italian
- Media
- Paper
- ISBNs
- 5
- ASINs
- 7





























































