Why the Name Byblos?

Byblos Press is named after the Lebanese port city Byblos. Byblos, one of the oldest continually inhabited cities in the world, has been closely linked to the legends and history of the Mediterranean region for thousands of years. According to Phoenician tradition it was founded by the God El, and even the Phoenicians considered it a city of great antiquity. Byblos is also directly associated with the history and diffusion of the Phoenician alphabet—the precursor to our present phonetic alphabet. It was the Greeks, some time after 1200 B.C., who gave the name "Phoenicia" to the coastal area now known as the Levant. They called the city "Byblos" (papyrus" in Greek), because this commercial center was important in the papyrus trade—the key element of ancient literary communication. Much of the books that filled the shelves of the great Library of Alexandria were made of the papyrus from Byblos. Our English vocabulary includes words from this root, such as Bible, bibliography, bibliophile—a description of everyone here at Byblos Press, and in other languages such as biblioteca, Spanish for library. Byblos is nearly synonymous with writing and books. Byblos Press celebrates these world-shaping developments by incorporating the Byblos name as our own.

Why Byblos Press?

Byblos Press has no political agenda. Our goal is simply to provide quality publications that expand knowledge, nurture understanding, and stimulate wisdom. We present our website as your personal connection to the well written word—something sorely needed in today's world of "fast food" literature, data glut, and other modern maladies. In addition to our book list, we feature various writers, book news, and other information to help clear the clutter of 21st century data overload and for some, the impetus to clean out the cobwebs of stagnant reflection.

Byblos Values Include:

Expand Knowledge—a higher level of data that has undergone basic filtering, possibly combined with theory, experience, and testing, that can lead to good actions.
Nurture Understanding—that level of clarity and comprehensive inclusion of appropriate knowledge. Understanding provides the ability to apply judgment to do the right thing.
Stimulate Wisdom—the accumulated and properly distributed understanding. With real wisdom comes the ability to make the best possible decisions; that is doing the right things for the right reasons.