The Book In early times, book consisted of inscribed clay tablets, rolls of papyrus, sheets of parchment, or other materials. Modern books consist of printed pages bounded between protective covers. The earliest survival works that may be classified as books were produced in Egypt and Mesopotamia (modern Iraq) about 5,000 years ago. The wedge-shaped letters characteristics of cuneiform script was pressed into the damp clay. Gradually papyrus scrolls replaced the clay tablets because of Aramaic language, which could not easily be transcripted in cuneiform words. Papyrus scrolls were made from flat strips cut from the stem of the papyrus plant. The strips were pasted together to form long sheets. A stick was attached to every end of the sheet, it was then wound up to form a scroll. The papyrus could be easily carried and stored, and it was poor for preserving records. Eventually parchment replaced papyrus as a writing material.