Fall of 2007 is the time frame I personally think of as the "birth of ebooks." I know that's not exactly accurate but it is around the time when the first version of the Kindle was released and I became a regular ebook reader. But the truth is, the idea behind ebooks stretches back far earlier than the Kindle era and long before digital screens, file formats, or wireless downloads. In fact, decades before anyone could imagine a portable reading device, one particular visionar