From tablet to codex & beyond: the history of the book

Join Senior Librarian Dr Anna Welch to discover how the physical form of the book has changed in wonderful and curious ways over time: from a 4,000-year-old Cuneiform tablet to ancient scrolls and the Roman codex, right up to contemporary book art. Each of these innovations has had a transformative impact on how we take in information and ideas. You’ll also glimpse exquisite medieval manuscripts (ours is the largest collection in Australia) and other significant forms of the book, including a torah on loan from the Jewish Museum of Australia, and some outstanding 17th and 18th-century bindings from our John Emmerson collection of rare books.