The Secret History of Writing.

History The Secret History of Writing is currently on the iPlayer (although the first episode drops off in a fortnight). Across three episodes it describes the development of written language from symbolic to alpha numeric characters, the development of how those letters are captured on paper and in printing and finally how roman characters are slowly conquering the world. 

Typical of the show's casual revelations is why we call the edge of the book its spine.  This dates back to the original utility of vellum.  In the series we see the scraping and stretching process on the cow hide but despite the craftsman's work, anatomical features of the animal's carcass can still be seen on the surface including the spine of the animal.  It's at this point the pages are folded and hence the name we still use.

[iplayer]