by Bingley (mostly) & Irene
From page 109 (page 87 in the small print trade paperback) of Pride of Carthage: A Novel of Hannibal
Hannibal sat a moment, watching his son at play with the balls of wadded paper Bostar had improvised as toys while the men spoke.
Pliny the Elder's account of papyrus, papyrus manufacturing,
and the different qualities of papyrus
(keep going to section 13.27)
A slide show of the papyrus manufacturing process: Papyrus 101 from an online exhibit presented by The University of Michigan Papyrus Collection.
An account from the Brooklyn Museum of the results of their attempts to manufacture papyrus: The History and Treatment of the Papyrus Collection at The Brooklyn Museum.
[the above photographic image is of a Papyrus plant, Cyperus papyrus, at Kew Gardens, London, England. Click on photo to enlarge.]
Presumably baby Hamilcar wasn't given a whole roll of
papyrus to play with. But in any case, papyrus was expensive, and writing was
often erased so that the papyrus could be re-used (though luckily for us, the
erasure wasn't complete and it is often still possible for us to read the
erased writing).
LacusCurtius articles on papyrus and books in the ancient world: Papyrus; and The Roman Book (liber) from Smith's Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities.
Papyrus at Ancient / Classical History at About.com.
Wikipedia has a number of external links, as well as a page on Papyrology.
A papyrus plays an important part in the mystery by Albert Noyer, The Secundus Papyrus.
