Not long ago, a peculiar package arrived at the manuscript department of the Saltykov-Shchedrin Public Library in Leningrad, sent from Central Asia. It was too small and too heavy to be a book. When library staff opened it, their surprise only grew: inside lay a small clay brick. A letter tucked into the package explained the mystery: through the brick’s cracks, sheets of paper could be seen.
For about six months, restorers in Leningrad worked carefully to extract the manuscript hidden inside the brick. Their meticulous, almost jewel-like craftsmanship paid off. They pulled out a handwritten book—a copy of the Divan-i Hikmet, a collection of wisdom by Ahmad Yasawi, who lived in the 12th century AD. Scholars determined the manuscript had been made more than two hundred years ago.
