The Chinese were the first people to make books. They discovered how to make paper and how to print books in about A.D. 1200. At that time, there was almost no contact between Europe and China. One of the few Europeans to travel that far east was Marco Polo, an Italian. He visited China in the thirteenth century and may have seen some books. However, he did not bring the idea of making books back home with him. Europeans, in fact,