Skip to Content

…the book is an extension of the eye…
—Marshall McLuhan

Inspiration

Ideas contained in text and images have long been the source of both information and inspiration.

Before the book, people recorded information about their lives, their culture and their rituals on stone and ceramic tablets, linen and papyrus fragments.

During the medieval era, monks painstakingly created vellum, or parchment manuscripts. Later, as demand for these early books increased, they were produced in commercial workshops or ateliers rather than monasteries. 

The invention of the printing press heralded the beginning of the mass-production of printed books. From this point, books became a powerful vehicle for the dissemination of ideas. At various periods in history, some books have been considered so influential as to change the world, how we think about ourselves and the way we live. 

Sacred texts, such as the Torah, the Bible and the Qur'an, are central to the practice and rituals of many great world religions.

In whatever form they take, books will continue to be a powerful way of informing and inspiring new generations.