National Book Lovers Day 2023: Know the Date, History, Significance and Everything

New Delhi: If you’re a book lover, you know how fascinating it is to be stuck into a good tale, whether it’s a short story, a novel, a poem, or an epic adventure. On August 9th, bookworms unite to channel their boundless enthusiasm for literature into one massive party in honour of National Book Lovers Day. People are encouraged to lay down their phones and take up a book in honour of this unique day.

History & Background Story of Books

Literature has stood the test of time and remains relevant, and this is why we honour it on National Book Lovers Day. Books existed in many forms, including tablets, manuscripts, and engravings, before the creation of paper. Each culture has its own system for documenting the past. Around 3500 B.C., Mesopotamians carved symbols onto clay tablets using a pointed tool made from the calamus plant’s stem which is known as Cuneiform.

In the first century AD, Ts’ai Lun, a Chinese scholar, after experimenting with hemp, fishnets, and the mulberry plant, created paper. The printing of books in China changed over time, with woodblock printing eventually becoming the norm. Although the scrolls from the fourth century B.C. are sometimes referred to as the earliest books, the oldest collected book is “The Diamond Sutra,” published in China on May 11, 856.

In 1436, German inventor Johannes Gutenberg set out to mass-produce copies of the Bible. Nonetheless, other objects, including books, were soon being printed on the press. The evolution of the printing press, the typewriter has had a profound impact on how books are seen, produced, and sold.

Because of the status they represented, hardcover books dominated the market around the turn of the twentieth century. But starting in 1937, paperbacks exploded in popularity, ushering in a new era of digests, pulp fiction, and compact books.

Significance of the Day

It is unknown who started the worldwide Book Lovers Day celebration or why. The significance of Book Lovers Day is to honour the practice of reading, to draw attention to great works of literature, and to encourage everyone to read a book. The goal of the annual Book Lovers Day celebration is to encourage more individuals to pick up a book and rediscover the joy of reading, this holiday is particularly crucial.