Culture | Paper trail

“Papyrus” is a lively history of books in the ancient world

Texts have long been dangerous and disruptive as well as pleasurable, Irene Vallejo argues

Section from the Book of the Dead. Tomb of Maiherperi. KV36. Valley of the Kings. Egypt. 18th dynasty. The Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt (notated Dynasty XVIII. alternatively 18th Dynasty or Dynasty 18) is classified as the first Dynasty of the Ancient Egyptian New Kingdom period. lasting from 1549/1550 BC to 1292 BC. (Photo by: Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

Papyrus. By Irene Vallejo. Translated by Charlotte Whittle. Knopf; 464 pages; $35. Hodder & Stoughton; £25

This article appeared in the Culture section of the print edition under the headline “Paper trail”

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