The First Eraser Wasn't Rubber.

Before erasers were invented, people used bread crumbs to erase pencil marks!

Fresh, soft white bread was rolled into small balls and dabbed on paper to lift graphite. It worked surprisingly well and didn’t damage the paper, making it the go-to fix-it tool for artists and writers in the 1700s.

The idea might sound strange, but think about it: both bread and modern erasers are soft, slightly sticky, and absorbent. The bread grabbed onto the pencil marks and pulled them away like a sponge.

Even stranger? People used stale milk, wax, or rough stones to correct mistakes before settling on bread. But in 1770, a British engineer named Edward Nairne accidentally picked up a piece of rubber instead of bread, and found it erased even better.

Rubber quickly replaced bread, though early versions smelled awful and crumbled easily. It wasn’t until Charles Goodyear invented vulcanized rubber in 1839 that erasers got the durability and bounce we know today.