The British Library will celebrate the art of writing in all its forms in a new exhibition titled ‘Writing: Making Your Mark’ on view from 26 April until 27 August 2019. The exhibition will follow the written word’s evolution from ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs right up to printed texts and digital emojis.
The origin of speech dates back 10,000 years but writing came about much later, some 5600 years ago.
The British Library exhibition will showcase over 30 different types of writing spanning over five millennia, including an ancient wax tablet from Egypt containing a child’s schoolwork as they struggle to learn their Greek letters.
The wax tablet dates back some 1800 years when Egypt was still under Roman rule and studying Greek was common and contains remarkable examples of handwriting and multiplication tables. Surviving lines of lettering are from a quote the young pupil had been copying out which reads: “you should accept advice only from a wise man.”
Watani International
10 February 2019
