We've heard lots of talk in the last several years about the "end of print books" and the rise of digital editions. But words will continue to appear on sheets of paper, even though many new readers prefer screens. The words in Keith Houston's edifying tome chart nearly 2,000 years of writing, printing, illustrating, and binding of "the most powerful object of our time."

What a fascinating journey the author of Shady Characters takes us on with glimpses of the ancient art of printing on cuneiform tablets and papyrus scrolls to the covering of books with alligator, kangaroo, or seal-skin.

On these pages, the curious lover of books will meet Cai Lun, the Chinese eunuch who invented paper, and then marvel at the creation of The Book of Kells with all its vellum pages and exquisite geometric designs. Houston notes that the Duke of Berry's Book of Hours was the last in the line of illustrated manuscripts. With the coming of Gutenberg's printing press, books gradually "made their way out into the wider world, coveted as status symbols by wealthy private citizens."

Of course, not everyone had reverence for books — especially for those gathered in libraries. The author reflects upon the grandeur of the fabled Library of Alexandria which housed an estimated 700,000 scrolls. A fire roared through it in 48 BCE as a result of a civil war in the Roman Republic. Equally depressing was the destruction by Spanish explorers of Mayan books in the 16th century. These resources charted the culture of indigenous peoples.

Houston is awed by the corporeality of books. In his introduction, he suggests: "Pluck a physical book off your bookshelf now. Find the biggest, grandest hardback you can find. Hold it in your hands. Open it and hear the rustle of the paper and the crackle of glue. Smell it! Flip through the pages and feel the breeze on your face. An e-book imprisoned behind the glass of a tablet or computer screen is an inert thing by comparison."