Quote:
Originally Posted by Donnageddon
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Of course, I am sure RWood and HarryT can fill us in on how books were made on papyrus. 
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Being a few years older than Harry (papyrus had already come into wide spread use by the time Harry came along) I will take a shot at this.
Unlike today's modern massive publishing establishments like Steve Jordan Books or Penguin, we employed
slave, prisoner professional scribes to copy each page. Papyrus was made in small batches in our own shops and the ink came from natural sources -- black from carbon black, the soot from the candles we burned, and the red from
their our own blood. A high speed scribe could complete several pages a week. A whole book, say the
Bible might take a lifetime or more. (Lifetimes were shorter then.)
I hope this answers your question. If you have more questions, I am sure that
Dr. Doom Dr. Drib will be glad to help.