I have been thinking a bit about a global book history 'red herring.' In my mind there's not much that has been less explored than the continued flourishing of lontar/pothi style books. Below is a leaf from a Tibetan ms https://eap.bl.uk/archive-file/EAP727-1-5 and Tamil https://eap.bl.uk/archive-file/EAP689-34-1-1

Some scholars may be tempted to think of these materials as some sort of archaic remainder - but that would be largely misguided. Just consider, for example, where this format flourished, and still can be found. Here is a back of the napkin map:

Some things that strike me as worth exploring - obviously we have to think of the spread of the "Sanskrit cosmopolis" and all that - but I'm also thinking about institutions: Tibetan monasteries, Thai temples, families passing down ms.

And also, the incredible plurality of book structures in this world - there was a bit of everything - but the lontar/pothi remained central and vibrant, withstanding the advantages of "random access" found in the codex. In many places, palm endured, even when paper was around

Anyways, I have never seen anyone really draw that map. I think trying to seriously consider how this story fits with our other embryonic stories of #globalbookhistory is going to take lots of work.

Oh, and before anyone dings me, the map could include all of East Asia because of concertina bindings - but I'm not fully convinced of the genealogy. It's a big change to go from the loose leaves to this hybrid form.