The paper aims to present and compare the state of knowledge in selected writing materials based on 19th-century sources and contemporary news examples. The paper cites an excerpt from the written examination for director of the Jagiellonian Library, relating to writing materials, of Józef Muczkowski in 1836. The course of the entire examination and the committee’s work on its preparation are also outlined. The article also elaborates on selected discoveries of ancient papyri, parchments and clay tablets between the 19th and 21st centuries. These included documents found during excavations carried out in: Herculaneum (at the Villa of the Papyri), Tebtunis on the outskirts of the Fajum oasis, Sheikh Abd el-Gurna, Nineveh, Dura Europos, Qumran and Ein-Gedi. Aspects of their preservation and dissemination, as well as digitisation, are addressed. The tasks carried out in opening and reading the contents of the various manuscripts without risking their destruction are also described.