E-readers started surging in popularity during the late 2000s, but the first such device may have debuted over 60 years ago.
A Spanish teacher named Ángela Ruiz Robles invented the "Mechanical Encyclopedia" in 1949 -- way before Nooks and Kindles hit store shelves -- and historians claim it's the first of its kind, according to the New York Daily News.
In Robles' patent application, the then 54-year-old described her device as follows:
"It has some coils where you place the books that you want to learn in whatever language. By a movement of the same [COILS] it passes over all the topics, making it stop where you would like it to."
Alas, Robles' project never hit market because she didn't receive enough funding. Her prototype is now displayed in the National Museum of Science and Technology in La Coruña, Spain. To see the early e-reader, check out the video, above.
Would you consider Robles' device a precursor to the e-reader? Discuss in the comments, below.