Wax tablet writing in Ancient Rome. Romans using a stylus and wax tablet to write messages or make calculations. The wax layers would be encased in a wooden support. This method of writing dates to the second and first millennia BC, and it remained in use in some places up to the 19th century. This artwork is from a series of illustrated French encyclopedia volumes, published by the Epinal printing firm in the late 19th and early 20th century. The series was called 'Serie encyclopedique des lecons de choses illustrees' (Encyclopedic series of object lessons illustrated), and this example is from a volume published in around 1900.