“The development of papyrus, a paperlike substrate for manuscripts, was a major step forward in Egyptian visual communications. . . . Eight different papyrus grades were made for uses ranging from royal proclamations to daily accounting. The finished sheets had an upper surface of horizontal fibers called the recto and a bottom surface of vertical fibers called the verso. The tallest papyrus sheets measured 49 centimeters (19 inches), and up to twenty sheets would be pasted together and rolled into a scroll, with the recto side facing inward. . . .”

—Phil Meggs & Alston Purvis, Meggs’ History of Graphic Design, 2006.