Show book talks since earliest times men have attempted to record their stories the aim of the first scribes in the choice of the material for their work was given to durable form to the production the ten commandments mand ments were graven on slabs of stone the earliest production answering to our modern books of which we have any record were I 1 the tiles covered with inscriptions in the soft clay by the chaldean scribes and rendered permanent by being baked in ovens in egyptian tombs there have been found books dating about 13 C known as the book of the dead containing invocations to the deities together with prayers and psalms with the personal record of the deceased and his expectations of the world to come the earliest known chinese literature dates from 1150 B C some years earlier than the generally accepted date of the homeric poems the material next in line to the baked clay was the skin of goats it was dressed only on one side and did not present any thoroughly finished surface the greeks called them |