What makes a book? Early books were handwritten, printed, bound, and decorated using a wide variety of materials from the natural world. From essential ingredients like flax, leather, copper, and lead, to the unexpected, like wasps and seaweed, Nature of the Book shows what the innovative use of these varied and sometimes surprising resources can tell us, touching on questions of purpose, process, trade, and economy. It tells a story of both local resourcefulness and global influence essential to the Western book as we know it.