Next major invention in mass communication was the invention of photography

Beatrice-1866 by Julia Margaret Cameron. The albumen print was invented in 1850 and was the most common type of print for the next 40 years. An albumen print was made by coating paper with a layer of egg white and salt to create a smooth surface. The paper was then coated with a layer of silver nitrate. The salt and silver nitrate combined to form light sensitive silver salts. This double coated paper could then be placed in contact with a negative and exposed to the sun to produce a print.

A page from the Gutenberg Bible printed in 1456

A page from the Gutenberg Bible printed in 1456. The print uses the Gothic style used in the production of hand written manuscripts.

Papyrus, Parchment and Paper

Papyrus (from the plant papyrus) was used for writing in about 3000BC in Egypt.

Parchment or vellum (animal skin) was used about 150 BC, and continued to be used by the Christian monks in Europe in the Middle Ages. The original copy of the book of Kells is written on vellum.

Paper( mulberry tree bark, and bamboo pulp) was invented by the Chinese in 105 AD, developed further in Korea and then Japan( shortly after the arrival of Buddhism in Japan) in 610 AD, arrived in Samarkand and Baghdad along the Silk Rout in the 8th Century AD, and Europe by 1200's

Paper was widely used in Europe after the invention of printing by Gutenberg in 1452.

Phoenicians gave us the gift of alphabetic writing

Samples from Arabic, Syriac (christian) and Hebrew alphabets

Leaf from a Quran manuscript. 9th to 10th century AD