Books: From Scrolls to Screens

Look back at the pages from history and discover the next chapter in reading

In collaboration with

and 41 more collections

A novel invention

Discover

A Brief History of Books

How books went from handwritten scrolls to digitized publications

Explore

Who Invented Paper?

The strange and ancient story unfolds

Highlights from Google Books

A handful of stories from the Google Books archive

Take a leaf out of their book

4 Books That Were the First of Their Kind

From the first cocktail book to the first modern atlas

The Famous Books Exploring Witchcraft and Demons

Take a closer look at these magical texts

Jacquin's Botany Books

The publications exploring our natural world

The Book that Predicted Popes

Is this alleged prophecy the real deal?

An Icon of Dutch Literature

Multatuli's Max Havelaar has become known all over the world

Remembering Local African American History through Google Books

Researchers Emily Donaldson Field and Jamie Huff explore the importance of digitization for preserving history

Nostradamus' Publications of Predictions

What makes the French physician's Almanacs unique?

From a Picture to 1000 Stories

An experiment with Google Books

Launch experiment

Bookshelf staples

Classics from around the world

Victor Hugo

A monumental French author

Cervantes

Writer. Soldier. Man. Myth.

From Tolstoy to Chekhov

Explore the history and authors of Russian literature

Yemeni Manuscripts

Yemen's written heritage

The Great Pustaha

The story of a remarkable Batak book

Ziraldo's Children's Books

Whimsical stories from the Brazilian cartoonist

Illuminated Korans

And other examples of Ottoman Calligraphy

The Book of Durrow

A 1,300 year old masterpiece

Karl Marx

From early writings to anthologies

The real philosopher's stone

How books inspire other books

Alchemy

The Ancient Art of Alchemy at the Heart of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone

How JK Rowling was inspired by a rare manuscript discovered by the real Nicolas Flamel

Going medieval

A look at the OG books

How to

How To Make A Manuscript

A look at the four stages of crafting a medieval manuscript

A comprehensive catalogue

Illuminating the Middle Ages

A treasure trove of medieval Latin manuscripts in the Library of Trinity College Dublin.

Medieval Illuminated Manuscripts

Colors Between Covers

German book illumination of the 15th and early 16th centuries

Works of art

The Elaborate Details in a Medieval Manuscript

Learn about medieval civilization and culture

Why is it important to preserve books?

A look at the kind of rare, first of their kind, and fragile books that are important to preserve digitally

Windows on the past

How the Creation of the Atlas Helped Discover Continental Drift

Proving the importance of print books from the past

Cultural heritage

The Personal Inscriptions Inside Nelson Mandela's Books

Books sent to Nelson Mandela by his friends and admirers

Historical firsts

The Oldest Cookbook Written By A Woman in Asia

A unique perspective in the world's food culture history

Changing ecosystems

Herbaria: Books of Dried Plant Specimens

Researchers use them to investigate changes in ecosystems and habitats

The Protestant Reformation

The Early Days of Martin Luther

Documents that were part of the “Memory of the World” of UNESCO in 2015

Slovenian Folklore

Preserving the Memory of Oral Folklore

The evolution of Slovenian literature in manuscripts and books

Handwritten documents

The Inner Workings of the Mind of Isaac Newton

Nearly 8,000 papers that reveal an unknown side of Newton's personality

Changing the way we read

From paper to pixels

How Digitizing Books Solved a Publishing Mystery

Discovering an unknown publisher through the analysis of individual letters

What is Microfilm?

Preservation and access before digitization

Digitizing the Books of the Bavarian State Library

A collaborative project for digitizing copyright-free library collections

How to Use Google Books for Public Research

Explore the documents from the California court briefs and records collection

'People die, but books never die. No man and no force can abolish memory.'- Franklin D. Roosevelt

Uncovering Family Histories

How digital records help people in the hunt for their ancestors

How Digitized Documents Help Genealogists

"You wouldn't expect the history of folks like mine to be found in books, and yet there it is in Google Books"

A Genealogist Unearths Some Family Secrets

The discovery of a disobedient daughter-in-law

Online archives that make sure no story is forgotten

The Feminist Library: Archives and Activism

Protecting women's history and the story of the women's movement

Why Queer Archives Are Important: A Study of LGBTQ Life

Author Hugh Ryan on the importance of the archives of the LGBT Community Center National History Archive

Black Cultural Archives

United Kingdom

Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution

United States

U.S. National Archives

United States

Kalakriti Archives

India

Kenya National Archives

Kenya

Fondazione Alinari per la Fotografia

Italy

California State Archives

United States

King's College London Archives

United Kingdom

The Presidential Archives

South Korea

Open Society Archives

Hungary

'The only thing you absolutely have to know is the location of the library.'- Albert Einstein

Bookworm heaven

Take a virtual tour of libraries from around the world

Explore in Street View

10 Incredible Libraries Around the World

The beauty of these buildings speaks volumes...

The Deutsches Museum Library: Germany's Largest Museum Library

A treasure trove of knowledge

The Collection of the Museo Galileo Library

Ancient books, archival materials and historical photos

An A-Z of the Chester Beatty Library

The "King of Copper"'s collection of rare book, manuscripts and decorative arts

The Regional Museum of Natural Sciences of Turin

The collection consists of old books, mainly concerning the natural sciences and the scientific exploration trips

Zoom into their digital books and manuscripts

See the lettering and illustrations, up close

These are my confessions

Written accounts that draw you into a time period, a family history or the story of a nation

An Overlooked Autobiography: Richard Baxter’s Reliquiae Baxterianae

Chronicling the events of the 1620s to the 1680s

A Unique Book About Lithuania's Famous Radziwiłł' Family

A famous beauty, a powerful royal advisor, and a politics-shy traveller

A Timeless Script: Handwritten Passover Haggadot

The traditional book used on the holiday of Passover in the Seder services

Shining a Spotlight on Slovenian Scientists in History

A book documenting the impact of early experts

Recording the Brief History of the Korean Empire

Snippets from guide books, maps and travel narratives

What's in a pseudonym?

Meet women of their word, and their pen

Discover

Women Who Wrote Under Male Pen Names

The true identities of authors, from George Sand to George Eliot

Click on the author's portrait to read one of their novels online

Google Books

Johann Wolfgang Goethe

Italian Journey

Google Books

Mary Shelley

Frankenstein

Google Books

Edward Gibbon

The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire

Google Books

Francis Bacon

Of Travel

Google Books

Mark Twain

The Innocents Abroad

More than words

A look at beautiful illustrations and artworks in books

Iconic characters

Jim Kay On Drawing The Boy Who Lived

The illustrator discusses his work on the latest editions of the Harry Potter books

Graphic Design

The Beautiful Fonts and Scripts of Georgia

The alphabet itself as a history

Natural Sciences

Exquisitely Detailed Scientific Illustrations

Revealing the beauty and artistry in documenting the natural history of life.

Hidden meanings

The Secret Language of Flowers

Unlocking a secret code for lovers

Glories in gold

The Art of Calligraphy

Illuminated Korans, prayer books, calligraphic compositions, albums and panels

A publishing milestone

The First Photography Books

It took decades to master the printing techniques required for the development of photographic books.

Click on the artwork to see what classic it's based on

Google Books

Buste van Aristophanes en putto met masker, in cartouche

Abraham Delfos

Google Books

The Flood Tablet

Made of clay by an unknown artist

Google Books

Papyrus fragment

Dating from 285–250 BCE

Google Books

Amphora with the Ransom of the Body of Hector

The Rycroft Painter

‘Reading books is like looking at paintings: without doubting, without hesitating, with self-assurance, one must find beautiful that which is beautiful.’– Vincent van Gogh in a letter to his brother Theo, 5 August 1881

Browse Vincent Van Gogh's bookshelf, online

Click on a book to read it on Google Books

A great mind

What Books Did Vincent Van Gogh Read?

A look inside the mind of an artist

Google Books

Charles Dickens

Oliver Twist

Google Books

Alphonse Daudet

Tartarin de Tarascon

Google Books

Zola

L'Oeuvre

Google Books

Henry Longfellow Wadsworth

Poetry

Google Books

Voltaire

Political Writings

Google Books

Jules Michelet

L'Amour

How people got their #styleinspo before Vogue

Before fashion magazines, there were fashion books

Fashion books

What are Kosode Pattern Books?

Through these books, Edo period connoisseurs could access images of the newest fashions of the day

Fashion books

What Was On Trend in 1723?

A book of the costumes of 100 types of women, from empresses and imperial princesses down to prostitutes

Fashion books

Rare Books on 19th-Century Indian Fashion

A book of fabrics that brought Indian fashions to Europe

The original travel blogs

Read guides and novels inspired by the authors travels

The Russegger Atlas

A Forgotten Travelogue Made Accessible Again by Digitization

Writings that contributed to the search for the source of the White Nile and published new plant species, fish and insects