3874 entries. Last updated May 24, 2013.

The Earliest Surviving Literary or Library Catalogues (Circa 2,000 BCE)


Two cuneiform tablets found at Nippur, (Mesopotamia; now Iraq) are inscribed with a list of Sumerian works of literature in no apparent order.  One has 68 titles, the other 48 works.  These represent the earliest surviving literary or library catalogues. 

Casson, Libraries in the Ancient World (2001) 4.