Here's a good site with information from Pliny (a Roman historian) regarding the production of "paper" from the plant papyrus: http://legacy.earlham.edu/~seidti/iam/papyrus.html
And here is another with some lovely images of hieroglyphic writing: http://ancientegypthistorykingdom.weebly.com/egyptian-writing.html
Now think about this: How has writing and the production of an easy to use and carry substance like papyrus (remember those clunky clay tablets that Gilgamesh used?) changed the nature of history? How would our history be different if we could not write it down?