The history of the book is the story of a suite of technological innovations that improved the quality of text conservation, the access to information, portability, and the cost of production. This history is strongly linked to political and economical contingencies and the history of ideas and religions. A chained book in the Bodleian Library at Oxford University A book is a set or collection of written, printed, illustrated, or blank sheets, made of paper, parchment, or other material, usually fastened together to hinge at one side, and within protective covers. ... By the mid 20th century humans had achieved a mastery of technology sufficient to leave the surface of the Earth for the first time and explore space. ... The ASCII codes for the word Wikipedia represented in binary, the numeral system most commonly used for encoding computer information. ...

Origins and antiquity

Main article: History of writing

Writing is a system of linguistic symbols which permit one to transmit and conserve information. Writing appears to have developed between the 7th millennium BC and the 4th millennium BC, first in the form of early mnemonic symbols which became a system of ideograms or pictographs through simplification. The oldest known forms of writing were thus primarily logographic in nature. Later syllabic and alphabetic (or segmental) writing emerged. Writing systems evolved in the Early Bronze Age (late 4th millennium BC) out of neolithic proto-writing. ... Scribe Writing Writing, in its most common sense, is the preservation and the preserved text on a medium, with the use of signs or symbols. ... Linguistics is the scientific study of language, which can be theoretical or applied. ... The ASCII codes for the word Wikipedia represented in binary, the numeral system most commonly used for encoding computer information. ... During the 7th millennium BC, agriculture spreads from Anatolia to the Balkans. ... (5th millennium BC – 4th millennium BC – 3rd millennium BC - other millennia) // Events Sumerian city of Ur in Mesopotamia (40th century BC); Sumerian hegemony in Mesopotamia, with the invention of writing, base-60 mathematics, astronomy and astrology, civil law, complex hydrology, the sailboat, the wheel, and the potters wheel, 4000... Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: English mnemonics A mnemonic (pronounced in Received Pronunciation) is a memory aid, and most serve an educational purpose. ... A Chinese character. ... Pictogram for public toilets A pictogram or pictograph is a symbol which represents an object or a concept by illustration. ... A logogram, or logograph, is a single grapheme which represents a word or a morpheme (a meaningful unit of language). ... This article discusses the unit of speech. ... An alphabet is a complete standardized set of letters—basic written symbols—each of which roughly represents a phoneme of a spoken language, either as it exists now or as it may have been in the past. ...

Silk, in China, was also a base for writing. Writing was done with brushes. Many other materials were used as bases: bone, bronze, pottery, shell, etc. In India, for example, dried palm tree leaves were used; in Mesoamerica another type of plant,Amate . Any material which will hold and transmit text is a candidate for books. Given this, the human body could be seen as a book, with tattooing, and if we consider that human memory develops and transforms with the appearance of writing, it is perhaps not absurd to consider that this ability makes humans into living books (this idea is illustrated by Ray Bradbury in Fahrenheit 451, Peter Greenaway in The Pillow Book). Silk dresses Silk is a natural protein fiber, some forms of which can be woven into textiles. ... The cultural areas of Mesoamerica Mesoamerica or Meso-America (Spanish: Mesoamérica) was a geographical culture area extending from central Honduras and northwestern Costa Rica on the south, and, in Mexico, from the Soto la Marina River in Tamaulipas and the Rio Fuerte in Sinaloa on the north. ... Part of the Huexotzinco Codex, printed on amatl Amatl (from the Nahuatl paper) or Amate (Spanish) is a type of paper developed in Pre-Columbian Maya civilization. ... This article is about the tattoo, a design in ink or some other pigment, usually decorative or symbolic, placed permanently under the skin. ... Scribe Writing Writing, in its most common sense, is the preservation and the preserved text on a medium, with the use of signs or symbols. ... Ray Douglas Bradbury (born August 22, 1920) is an American literary, fantasy, horror, science fiction, and mystery writer best known for The Martian Chronicles, a 1950 book which has been described both as a short story collection and a novel, and his 1953 dystopian novel Fahrenheit 451. ... Fahrenheit 451 is a dystopian soft science fiction novel by Ray Bradbury that was published in 1953. ... Peter Greenaway Peter Greenaway (b. ... The Pillow Book ) is a book of observations and musings recorded by Sei Shōnagon during her time as court lady to Empress Sadako during the 990s in Heian Japan. ...

The book is also linked to the desire of humans to create lasting records. Stones could be the most ancient form of writing, but wood would be the first medium to take the guise of a book. The words biblos and liber first meant "fibre inside of a tree". In Chinese, the character that means book is an image of a tablet of bamboo. Wood tablets have also been found on Easter Island. Trunks A tree trunk as found at the Veluwe, The Netherlands Wood is a solid material derived from woody plants, notably trees but also shrubs. ... Diversity Around 91 genera and 1,000 species Subtribes Arthrostylidiinae Arundinariinae Bambusinae Chusqueinae Guaduinae Melocanninae Nastinae Racemobambodinae Shibataeinae See the full Taxonomy of the Bambuseae. ... motto: ( Rapa Nui ) Also called Te Pito O Te Henua (Ombligo del mundo) (Navel of the world) Capital Hanga Roa Area  - City Proper  163,6 km² Population  - City (2005)  - Density (city proper) 3,791 Inhabitants 23,17 /km² Time zone Central Time zone, UTC- 6 Telephone Prefix 32 Postal code...

Clay tablets

Clay tablets were used in Mesopotamia in the third millennium BC. The calamus, an instrument in the form of a triangle, was used to make characters in moist clay. The tablets were fired to dry them out. At Nineveh, 22,000 tablets were found, dating from the seventh century BC; this was the archive and library of the kings of Assyria, who had workshops of copyists and conservationists at their disposal. This presupposes a degree of organization with respect to books, consideration given to conservation, classification, etc. Mesopotamia refers to the region now occupied by modern Iraq, eastern Syria, southeastern Turkey, and Southwest Iran. ... (4th millennium BC – 3rd millennium BC – 2nd millennium BC – other millennia) Events Foundation of the city of Mari (Syria) (29th century BC ) Creation of the Kingdom of Elam (Iraq) Germination of the Bristlecone pine tree Methuselah about 2700 BC, the oldest tree still living now Dynasty of... Calamus may mean: Sweet flag Acorus calamus, an herb Calamus (palm genus), a genus of rattan palms Calamus (fish genus), a genus of porgies (Sparidae) Calamus, Iowa Calamus, Wisconsin Calamus, a DTP application This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share... , For other uses, see Nineveh (disambiguation). ... (2nd millennium BC - 1st millennium BC - 1st millennium) // Overview Events 699 BC - Khallushu succeeds Shuttir-Nakhkhunte as king of the Elamite Empire. ... An Assyrian winged bull, or lamassu. ...

Wax tablets

Woman holding wax tablets in the form of the codex. Wall painting from Pompeii, before 79 AD.

Romans used wax-coated wooden tablets (pugillares) upon which they could write and erase by using a stylus. One end of the stylus was pointed, and the other was spherical. Usually these tablets were used for everyday purposes (accounting, notes) and for teaching writing to children, according to the methods discussed by Quintilian in his Institutio Oratoria X Chapter 3. Several of these tablets could be assembled in a form similar to a codex. Also the etymology of the word codex (block of wood) suggest that it may have developed from wooden wax tablets.^[1] So-called Sappho, fourth style fresco; Pompeii, Region VI, Insula occidentalis. ... So-called Sappho, fourth style fresco; Pompeii, Region VI, Insula occidentalis. ... First page of the Codex Argenteus A codex (Latin for block of wood, book; plural codices) is a handwritten book, in general, one produced from Late Antiquity through the Middle Ages. ... Modern stylus, used for touch-screen enabled devices such as the Nintendo DS and personal digital assistants Styli used in writing in the Fourteenth Century. ... Marcus Fabius Quintilianus (c. ... First page of the Codex Argenteus A codex (Latin for block of wood, book; plural codices) is a handwritten book, in general, one produced from Late Antiquity through the Middle Ages. ...

Papyrus

Main article: Papyrus

After extracting the marrow from the stems, a series of steps (humidification, pressing, drying, gluing, and cutting), produced media of variable quality, the best being used for sacred writing. In Ancient Egypt, papyrus was used for writing maybe as early as from First Dynasty, but first evidence is from the account books of King Neferirkare Kakai of the Fifth Dynasty (about 2400 BC).^[2] A calamus, the stem of a reed sharpened to a point, or bird feathers were used for writing. The script of Egyptian scribes was called hieratic, or sacredotal writing; it is not hieroglyphic, but a simplified form more adapted to manuscript writing (hieroglyphs usually being engraved or painted). Papyrus plant Cyperus papyrus at Kew Gardens, London Papyrus is an early form of paper produced from the pith of the papyrus plant, Cyperus papyrus, a wetland sedge that was once abundant in the Nile Delta of Egypt. ... Khafres Pyramid (4th dynasty) and Great Sphinx of Giza (c. ... The First and second Dynasties of Ancient Egypt are often combined under the group title of the Early Dynastic Period of Egypt. ... Neferirkare Kakai was Pharaoh of Egypt during the Fifth dynasty. ... Known rulers, in the History of Egypt, for the Fifth Dynasty. ... Calamus may mean: Sweet flag Acorus calamus, an herb Calamus (palm genus), a genus of rattan palms Calamus (fish genus), a genus of porgies (Sparidae) Calamus, Iowa Calamus, Wisconsin Calamus, a DTP application This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share... Illustration of a 15th century scribe This is about scribe, the profession. ... Development of hieratic script from hieroglyphs; after Champollion. ... A section of the Papyrus of Ani showing cursive hieroglyphs. ...

Egyptian Papyrus

Papyrus books were in the form of a scroll of several sheets pasted together, for a total length of up to 10 meters or even more. Some books, such as the history of the reign of Ramses III, were over 40 meters long. Books rolled out horizontally; the text occupied one side, and was divided into columns. The title was indicated by a label attached to the cylinder containing the book. Many papyrus texts come from tombs, where prayers and sacred texts were deposited (such as the Book of the Dead, from the early 2nd millennium BC). Image:Egypt. ... Image:Egypt. ... Papyrus plant Cyperus papyrus at Kew Gardens, London Papyrus is an early form of paper produced from the pith of the papyrus plant, Cyperus papyrus, a wetland sedge that was once abundant in the Nile Delta of Egypt. ... Scroll can have different meanings: A scroll is a roll of parchment, papyrus, or paper which has been drawn or written upon. ... The Book of the Dead The Book of the Dead is the common name for ancient Egyptian funerary texts known as The Book of Coming [or Going] Forth By Day. ... The 2nd millennium BC marks the transition from the Middle to the Late Bronze Age. ...

These examples demonstrate that the development of the book, in its material makeup and external appearance, depended on a content dictated by political (the histories of pharaohs) and religious (belief in an afterlife) values. The particular influence afforded to writing and word perhaps motivated research into ways of conserving texts. This article refers to the historical Pharaoh. ...

Parchment

Parchment progressively replaced papyrus. Legend attributes its invention to Eumenes II, the king of Pergamon, from which comes the name "pergamineum," which became "parchment." Its production began around the third century BC. Made using the skins of animals (sheep, cattle, donkey, antelope, etc.), parchment proved easier to conserve over time; it was more solid, and allowed one to erase text. It was a very expensive medium because of the rarity of material and the time required to produce a document. Vellum is the finest quality of parchment. German parchmenter, 1568 Parchment is a material for the pages of a book or codex, made from fine calf skin, sheep skin or goat skin. ... Papyrus plant Cyperus papyrus at Kew Gardens, London Papyrus is an early form of paper produced from the pith of the papyrus plant, Cyperus papyrus, a wetland sedge that was once abundant in the Nile Delta of Egypt. ... Categories: Stub ... Acropolis of Pergamon as seen from above Temple of Trajan at the Acropolis of Pergamon The Asklepeion of Pergamon was the worlds first hospital Pergamon or Pergamum (Greek: Πέργαμος, modern day Bergama in Turkey, ) was an ancient Greek city, in Mysia, north-western Anatolia, 16 miles from the Aegean Sea... Vellum (from the Latin for wool or pelt) is a sort of parchment, a material for the pages of a book or codex, characterized by its thin, smooth, durable properties. ...

Greece and Rome

The scroll of papyrus is called "volumen" in Latin, a word which signifies "circular movement," "roll," "spiral," "whirlpool," "revolution" and finally "a roll of writing paper, a rolled manuscript, or a book." Papyrus plant Cyperus papyrus at Kew Gardens, London Papyrus is an early form of paper produced from the pith of the papyrus plant, Cyperus papyrus, a wetland sedge that was once abundant in the Nile Delta of Egypt. ...

In the 7th century Isidore of Seville explains the relation between codex, book and scroll in his Etymologiae (VI.13) as this: Saint Isidore of Seville (Spanish: or ) (c. ...

Description

The scroll is rolled around two vertical wooden axes. This design allows only sequential usage; one is obliged to read the text in the order in which it is written, and it is impossible to place a marker in order to directly access a precise point in the text. It is comparable to modern video cassettes. Moreover, the reader must use both hands to hold on to the vertical wooden rolls and therefore cannot read and write at the same time. The only volumen in common usage today is the Jewish Torah. Tora redirects here. ...

Book Culture

The authors of Antiquity had no rights concerning their published works; there were neither authors' nor publishing rights. Anyone could have a text recopied, and even alter its contents. Scribes earned money and authors earned mostly glory, unless a patron provided cash; a book made its author immortal. This followed the traditional conception of the culture: an author stuck to several models, which he imitated and attempted to improve. The status of the author was not regarded as absolutely personal. The times before writing belong either to protohistory or to prehistory. ...

From a political and religious point of view, books were censored very early: the works of Protagoras were even burned, because he denied that one could know whether or not the gods existed. Generally, cultural conflicts led to important periods of book destruction: in 303, the emperor Diocletian ordered the burning of Christian texts. Christians later burned libraries, and especially heretical or non-canonical Christian texts. These practices are found throughout human history. One sees what is at stake in these battles over the book: the effort to remove all traces of adversarial ideas and thereby to deprive posterity these works. One violently strikes out at an author when one attacks his or her works; it is a form of violence perhaps more effective than physical attack. Protagoras (in Greek Πρωταγόρας) was born around 481 BC in Abdera, Thrace in Ancient Greece. ... Gaius Aurelius Valerius Diocletianus ( 245– 312), born Diocles (Greek Διοκλής) and known in English as Diocletian,[1] was Roman Emperor from November 20, 284 to May 1, 305. ... This article is about the religous people known as Christians. ...

But there also exists a less visible but nonetheless effective form of censorship when books are reserved for the elite; the book was not originally a media for expressive liberty. It may serve to confirm the values of a political system, as during the reign of the emperor Augustus, who skillfully surrounded himself with great authors. This is a good ancient example of the control of the media by a political power. For other uses, see Augustus (disambiguation). ...

Proliferation and conservation of books in Greece

Little information concerning books in Ancient Greece survives. Several vases (sixth Century BC and fifth century BC) bear images of volumina. There was undoubtedly no extensive trade in books, but there existed several sites devoted to the sale of books. (6th century BC - 5th century BC - 4th century BC - other centuries) (2nd millennium BC - 1st millennium BC - 1st millennium AD) Events Demotic becomes the dominant script of ancient Egypt Persians invade Greece twice (Persian Wars) Battle of Marathon (490) Battle of Salamis (480) Athenian empire formed and falls Peloponnesian War...

The spread of books, and attention to their cataloging and conservation, as well as literary criticism developed during the Hellenistic period with the creation of large libraries in response to the desire for knowledge exemplified by Aristotle. These libraries were undoubtedly also built as demonstrations of political prestige: The term Hellenistic (established by the German historian Johann Gustav Droysen) in the history of the ancient world is used to refer to the shift from a culture dominated by ethnic Greeks, however scattered geographically, to a culture dominated by Greek-speakers of whatever ethnicity, and from the political dominance... Aristotle (Greek: Aristotélēs) (384 BC – March 7, 322 BC) was a Greek philosopher, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. ...

• The Library of Alexandria, a library created by Ptolemy Soter and set up by Demetrios of Phaleron. It contained 500,900 volumes (in the Museion section) and 40,000 at the Serapis temple (Serapeion). All books in the luggage of visitors to Egypt were inspected, and could be held for copying. The Museion was partially destroyed in 47 BC.
• The Library at Pergamon, founded by Attalus I; it contained 200,000 volumes which were moved to the Serapeion by Mark Antony and Cleopatra, after the destruction of the Museion. The Serapeion was partially destroyed in 391 CE by Christians, and the last books disappeared in 641 CE following the Arab conquest.
• The Library at Athens, the Ptolemaion, which gained importance following the destruction of the Library at Alexandria ; the library of Pantainos, around 100 CE; the library of Hadrian, in 132 CE.
• The Library at Rhodes, a library that rivaled the Library of Alexandria.
• The Library at Antioch, a public library of which Euphorion of Chalcis was the director near the end of the third century.

The libraries had copyist workshops, and the general organisation of books allowed for the following: Inscription regarding Tiberius Claudius Balbilus of Rome (d. ... For the unrelated astronomer, see Ptolemy Ptolemy I Soter (367 BC–283 BC), ruler of Egypt (reigned 323 BC - 283 BC) and founder of the Ptolemaic dynasty. ... Centuries: 2nd century BC - 1st century BC - 1st century Decades: 90s BC 80s BC 70s BC 60s BC 50s BC - 40s BC - 30s BC 20s BC 10s BC 0s BC 0s Years: 52 BC 51 BC 50 BC 49 BC 48 BC 47 BC 46 BC 45 BC 44 BC... Acropolis of Pergamon as seen from above Temple of Trajan at the Acropolis of Pergamon The Asklepeion of Pergamon was the worlds first hospital Pergamon or Pergamum (Greek: Πέργαμος, modern day Bergama in Turkey, ) was an ancient Greek city, in Mysia, north-western Anatolia, 16 miles from the Aegean Sea... Coin struck during the reign of Attalus I, depicting the head of Attalus great uncle Philetaerus on the obverse and seated Athena, Greek goddess of war and wisdom, on the reverse Attalus I Soter (Greek: Savior; 269 BCE – 197 BCE)[1] ruled Pergamon, a Greek polis in what is now... Bust of Mark Antony Marcus Antonius (Latin: M·ANTONIVS·M·F·M·N[1]) ( January 14 83 BC – August 1, 30 BC), known in English as Mark Antony, was a Roman politician and general. ... This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Christianity. ... Languages Arabic other languages (Arab minorities) Religions Predominantly Islam Some adherents of Druze, Judaism, Samaritan, Christianity Related ethnic groups Jews, Canaanites, other Semitic-speaking groups An Arab (Arabic: ); is a member of a Semitic group of people whose cultural, linguistic, and in certain cases, ancestral origins trace back to the... Athens (Greek: Αθήνα - Athína) is the largest city and capital of Greece, located in the Attica periphery of central Greece. ... The Royal Library of Alexandria was once the largest in the world. ... Publius Aelius Traianus Hadrianus (January 24, 76 – July 10, 138), known as Hadrian in English, apart of Stoic and Epicurean philosopher, he was a Roman emperor from 117 – 138, and a member of the gens Aelia. ... Rhodes (Greek: Ρόδος (pron. ... Inscription regarding Tiberius Claudius Balbilus of Rome (d. ... Antioch on the Orontes (Greek: Αντιόχεια η επί Δάφνη, Αντιόχεια η επί Ορόντου or Αντιόχεια η Μεγάλη; Latin: Antiochia ad Orontem, also Antiochia dei Siri), the Great Antioch or Syrian Antioch was an ancient city located on the eastern side (left bank) of the Orontes River about 30 km from the sea and its port, Seleucia Pieria. ... Euphorion, Greek poet and grammarian, born at Chalcis in Euboea about 275 BC. He spent much of his life in Athens, where he amassed great wealth. ...

• Conservation of an example of each text
• Translation (the Septuagint Bible, for example)
• Literary criticisms in order to establish reference texts for the copy (example : The Iliad and The Odyssey)
• A catalog of books
• The copy itself, which allowed books to be disseminated

===Book production in Rome Book production developed in Rome in the first century BC with Latin literature that had been influenced by the Greek. The Septuagint: A page from Codex vaticanus, the basis of Sir Lancelot Charles Lee Brentons English translation. ... This Gutenberg Bible is displayed by the United States Library of Congress. ... The Iliad is, with The Odyssey, one of the two major Greek epic poems traditionally attributed to Homer, a blind Ionian poet. ... Odysseus and Nausicaä - by Charles Gleyre For other uses, see Odyssey (disambiguation). ... Nickname: The Eternal City Motto: SPQR: Senatus PopulusQue Romanus Location of the city of Rome (yellow) within the Province of Rome (red) and region of Lazio (grey) Coordinates: Region Lazio Province Province of Rome Founded 21 April 753 BC  - Mayor Walter Veltroni Area    - City 1285 km²  (580 sq mi)  - Urban... (2nd century BC - 1st century BC - 1st century - other centuries) The 1st century BC starts on January 1, 100 BC and ends on December 31, 1 BC. An alternative name for this century is the last century BC. (2nd millennium BC - 1st millennium BC - 1st millennium AD) Events The Roman...

This diffusion primarily concerned circles of literary individuals. Atticus was the editor of his friend Cicero. However, the book business progressively extended itself through the Roman Empire; for example, there were bookstores in Lyon. The spread of the book was aided by the extension of the Empire, which implied the imposition of the Latin tongue on a great number of people (in Spain, Africa, etc.). Atticus may refer to any of: Patriarch Atticus of Constantinople (406–425), a Patriarch of Constantinople. ... Cicero at about age 60, from an ancient marble bust Marcus Tullius Cicero (IPA:Classical Latin pronunciation: , usually pronounced in American English or in UK English; January 3, 106 BC – December 7, 43 BC) was a Roman statesman, lawyer, political theorist, philosopher, widely considered one of Romes greatest orators... Motto Senatus Populusque Romanus (SPQR) The Roman Empire at its greatest extent, c. ... City flag City coat of arms Motto: (Franco-Provençal: Forward, forward, Lyon the best) Location Coordinates Time Zone CET (GMT +1) Administration Country France Region Rhône-Alpes Department Rhône (69) Subdivisions 9 arrondissements Intercommunality Urban Community of Lyon Mayor Gérard Collomb  (PS) (since 2001) City Statistics... Latin is an ancient Indo-European language originally spoken in Latium, the region immediately surrounding Rome. ...

Libraries were private or created at the behest of an individual. Julius Caesar, for example, wanted to establish one in Rome, proving that libraries were signs of political prestige. Julio Pérez Ferrero Library - Cúcuta, Colombia A modern-style library in Chambéry A library is a collection of information resources and services, organized for use, and maintained by a public body, institution, or private individual. ... Gaius Julius Caesar [1] (Latin pronunciation ; English pronunciation ; July 12 or July 13, 100 BC or 102 BC – March 15, 44 BC), was a Roman military and political leader and one of the most influential men in classical antiquity. ...

In the year 377, there were 28 libraries in Rome, and it is known that there were many smaller libraries in other cities. Despite the great distribution of books, scientists do not have a complete picture as to the literary scene in antiquity as thousands of books have been lost through time.

Middle Ages

Main article: Illuminated manuscript

The codex Manesse, a book from the Middle Ages

By the end of antiquity, between the second century and fourth century, the codex had replaced the scroll. The book was no longer a continuous roll, but a collection of sheets attached at the back. It became possible to access a precise point in the text directly. The codex is equally easy to rest on a table, which permits the reader to take notes while he or she is reading. The codex form improved with the separation of words, capital letters, and punctuation, which permitted silent reading. Tables of contents and indices facilitated direct access to information. This form was so effective that it is still the standard book form, over 1500 years after its appearance. In the strictest definition of illuminated manuscript, only manuscripts decorated with gold or silver, like this miniature of Christ in Majesty from the Aberdeen Bestiary (folio 4v), would be considered illuminated. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (594x834, 245 KB) Codex Manesse, fol. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (594x834, 245 KB) Codex Manesse, fol. ... Folio 371r shows Johannes Hadlaub Folio 149v shows a portrait of Wolfram von Eschenbach The Manesse Codex or Grosse Heidelberger Liederhandschrift (Heidelberg, University of Heidelberg Library, Cod. ... First page of the Codex Argenteus A codex (Latin for block of wood, book; plural codices) is a handwritten book, in general, one produced from Late Antiquity through the Middle Ages. ... Scroll can have different meanings: A scroll is a roll of parchment, papyrus, or paper which has been drawn or written upon. ...

Paper would progressively replace parchment. Cheaper to produce, it allowed a greater diffusion of books.

Books in monasteries

A number of Christian books were destroyed at the order of Diocletian in 304 CE. During the turbulent periods of the invasions, it was the monasteries that conserved religious texts and certain works of Antiquity for the West. But there would also be important copying centers in Byzantium. Gaius Aurelius Valerius Diocletianus ( 245– 312), born Diocles (Greek Διοκλής) and known in English as Diocletian,[1] was Roman Emperor from November 20, 284 to May 1, 305. ... Classical antiquity is a broad term for a long period of cultural history centered on the Mediterranean Sea, which begins roughly with the earliest-recorded Greek poetry of Homer (7th century BC), and continues through the rise of Christianity and the fall of the Western Roman Empire (5th century AD... Byzantium (Greek: Βυζάντιον) was an ancient Greek city, which, according to legend, was founded by Greek colonists from Megara in 667 BC and named after their king Byzas or Byzantas (Βύζας or Βύζαντας in Greek). ...

The role of monasteries in the conservation of books is not without some ambiguity:

• Reading was an important activity in the lives of monks, which can be divided into prayer, intellectual work, and manual labor (in the Benedictine order, for example). It was therefore necessary to make copies of certain works. There therefore existed "scriptoria" (the plural of "scriptorium") in many monasteries, where manuscripts where monks copied and decorated manuscripts that had been preserved.

• However, the conservation of books was not exclusively in order to preserve ancient culture; it was especially relevant to understanding religious texts with the aid of ancient knowledge. Some works were never recopied, having been judged too dangerous for the monks. Morever, in need of blank media, the monks scraped off manuscripts, thereby destroying ancient works. The transmission of knowledge was centered primarily on sacred texts. prum nerj.

Munichs city symbol celebrates its founding by Benedictine monks—the origin of its name A Benedictine is a person who follows the Rule of St Benedict. ...

Copying and conserving books

A scribe at work copying

Despite this ambiguity, monasteries in the West and the Eastern Empire permitted the conservation of a certain number of secular texts, and several libraries were created: for example, Cassiodorus ('Vivarum' in Calabro, around 550), or Constantine I in Constantinople. There were several libraries, but the survival of books often depended on political battles and ideologies, which sometimes entailed massive destruction of books or difficulties in production (for example, the distribution of books during the Iconoclasm between 730 and 842). Image File history File links Escribano. ... Image File history File links Escribano. ... Flavius Magnus Aurelius Cassiodorus Senator (ca 484/490 - ca585), commonly known as Cassiodorus, was a Roman statesman and great writer, serving in the administration of Theodoric the Great, king of the Ostrogoths. ... Louis Calabro, (1926 Brooklyn New York) is an American orchestral composer. ... Head of Constantines colossal statue at Musei Capitolini Gaius Flavius Valerius Aurelius Constantinus[1] (February 27, 272–May 22, 337), commonly known as Constantine I, Constantine the Great, or (among Eastern Orthodox and Eastern Catholic[2] Christians) Saint Constantine, was a Roman Emperor, proclaimed Augustus by his troops on... Map of Constantinople. ... Illustration of the Beeldenstorm during the Dutch reformation Iconoclasm is the destruction of religious icons and other symbols or monuments, usually for religious or political motives. ...

The scriptorium

The scriptorium was the workroom of monk copyists; here, books were copied, decorated, rebound, and conserved. The armarius directed the work and played the role of librarian.

The role of the copyist was multifaceted: for example, thanks to their work, texts circulated from one monastery to another. Copies also allowed monks to learn texts and to perfect their religious education. The relationship with the book thus defined itself according to an intellectual relationship with God. But if these copies were sometimes made for the monks themselves, there were also copies made on demand. This article discusses the term God in the context of monotheism and henotheism. ...

The task of copying itself had several phases: the preparation of the manuscript in the form of notebooks once the work was complete, the presentation of pages, the copying itself, revision, correction of errors, decoration, and binding. The book therefore required a variety of competencies, which often made a manuscript a collective effort. Binding can mean: Binding (computer science) - a tie (for example) to certain names in programming languages Binding (knot) - A type of knot Binding (linguistics) - a property relating to anaphors (pronouns and R-expressions) and c-command Bookbinding - the protective cover of a book; and the art of constructing this Ski...

Transformation from the literary edition in the twelfth century

The revival of cities in Europe will change the conditions of book production and extend its influence, and the monastic period of the book will come to an end. This revival accompanies the intellectual renaissance of the period. It is around the first universities that new structures of production develop: reference manuscripts are used by students and professors for teaching theology and liberal arts. The development of commerce and of the bourgeoisie brings with it a demand for specialized and general texts (law, history, novels, etc.). And it is in this period that writing in the common vernacular develops (courtly poetry, novels, etc.). Commercial scriptoria became common, and the profession of book seller came into being, sometimes dealing internationally. World map showing the location of Europe. ... Theology (Greek θεος, theos, God, + λογια, logia, words, sayings, or discourse) is reasoned discourse concerning religion, spirituality and God or the gods. ...

There is also the creation of royal libraries: by Saint Louis and Charles V for example. Books are also collected in private libraries, which bacame common in the fourteenth century and fifteenth centuries. Alternative meanings: Library (computer science), Library (biology) Modern-style library In its traditional sense, a library is a collection of books and periodicals. ... Charles V the Wise (French: Charles V le Sage) (January 21, 1338 – September 16, 1380) was king of France from 1364 to 1380 and a member of the Valois Dynasty. ...

The use of paper diffused through Europe in the fourteenth century. This material, less expensive than parchment, came from China via the Arabs in Spain in the eleventh and twelfth century. It was used in particular for ordinary copies, while parchment was used for luxury editions. German parchmenter, 1568 Parchment is a material for the pages of a book or codex, made from fine calf skin, sheep skin or goat skin. ... The Arabs (Arabic: عرب ) are an ethnic group found throughout the Middle East and North Africa. ... In music or music theory an eleventh is the note eleven scale degrees from the root of chord and also the interval between the root and the eleventh. ... German parchmenter, 1568 Parchment is a material for the pages of a book or codex, made from fine calf skin, sheep skin or goat skin. ...

Books in the Orient

A Chinese bamboo book.

Image File history File linksMetadata Size of this preview: 518 × 600 pixel Image in higher resolution (1866 × 2160 pixel, file size: 1. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Size of this preview: 518 × 600 pixel Image in higher resolution (1866 × 2160 pixel, file size: 1. ...

China

Main article: Woodblock printing

Writing on bone, shells, wood and silk existed in China by the second century BC. Paper was invented in China around the first century. Yuan dynasty woodblock edition of a Chinese play For the use of the technique in art, see Woodcut on the technique, and Old master print for the history in Europe and woodblock printing in Japan Woodblock printing is a technique for printing text, images or patterns used widely throughout East... (3rd century BC - 2nd century BC - 1st century BC - other centuries) (2nd millennium BC - 1st millennium BC - 1st millennium AD) Events BC 168 Battle of Pydna -- Macedonian phalanx defeated by Romans BC 148 Rome conquers Macedonia BC 146 Rome destroys Carthage in the Third Punic War BC 146 Rome conquers... A blank sheet of paper Paper is a commodity of thin material produced by the amalgamation of fibers, typically vegetable fibers composed of cellulose, which are subsequently held together by hydrogen bonding. ...

The discovery of the process using the bark of the blackberry bush is attributed to Ts'ai Louen, but it may be older. Texts were reproduced by woodblock printing; the diffusion of Buddhist texts was a main impetus to large-scale production. In the eleventh century, a blacksmith, Pi Cheng, invented movable type, but woodblock printing remained the main technique for books, possibly because of the poor quality of the ink. The Uyghurs of Turkistan also used movable type, as did the Koreans and Japanese (See History of typography in East Asia). Yuan dynasty woodblock edition of a Chinese play For the use of the technique in art, see Woodcut on the technique, and Old master print for the history in Europe and woodblock printing in Japan Woodblock printing is a technique for printing text, images or patterns used widely throughout East... A case of cast metal type pieces and typeset matter in a composing stick Movable type is the system of printing and typography using movable pieces of metal type, made by casting from matrices struck by letterpunches. ... The Uyghur (also spelled Uighur; Uyghur: ئۇيغۇر; Simplified Chinese: ; Traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: ) are an ethnic group of Central Asia. ... Türkistan (also spelled Turkistan or Turkestan) is a region in Central Asia, largely inhabited by Turkic people. ... For the article on the development of printing in Europe, see History of western typography. ...

Printing took over much earlier and faster than in the West, but the format of the book evolved in a similar way to that in Europe, but much more slowly, and with intermediate stages of scrolls folded concertina-style, scrolls bound at one edge ("butterfly books") and so on. Printing was nearly always on one side of the paper only.

Movable type

Main article: Movable type

The development of the printing techniques of movable type and the printing press by Johannes Gutenberg around 1440 marks the entry of the book into the industrial age. The Western book was no longer a single object, written or reproduced by request. The publication of a book became an enterprise, requiring capital for its realization and a market for its distribution. The cost of each individual book (in a large edition) was lowered enormously, which in turn increased the distribution of books. The book in codex form and printed on paper, as we know it today, dates from the fifteenth century. Books printed before January 1, 1501, are called incunables. A case of cast metal type pieces and typeset matter in a composing stick Movable type is the system of printing and typography using movable pieces of metal type, made by casting from matrices struck by letterpunches. ... For other articles which might have the same name, see Print (disambiguation). ... A case of cast metal type pieces and typeset matter in a composing stick Movable type is the system of printing and typography using movable pieces of metal type, made by casting from matrices struck by letterpunches. ... The printing press is a mechanical device for printing many copies of a text on rectangular sheets of paper. ... Movable metal type, and composing stick, descended from Gutenbergs invention Johannes Gensfleisch zur Laden zum Gutenberg (c. ... January 1 is the first day of the calendar year in both the Julian and Gregorian calendars. ... 1501 was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... A page from a rare Blackletter Bible (1497) printed in Strassburg by J.R.Grueninger. ...

List of notable innovations

• c. 1475: Recuyell of the Historyes of Troye was the first book printed in the English language
• 1476: Grammatica Graeca, sive compendium octo orationis partium, probably the first book entirely in Greek by Constantine Lascaris
• 1485: De Re Aedificatoria, the first printed book on architecture
• 1488: Missale Aboense was the first book printed for Finland.
• 1494: Oktoih was the first printed Slavic Cyrillic book.
• 1499: Catholicon, Breton-French-Latin dictionary, first printed trilingual dictionary, first Breton book, first French dictionary
• 1511: Hieromonk Makarije printed the first books in Wallachia (in Slavonic)
• 1513: Hortulus Animae, polonice believed to be the first book printed in the Polish language.
• 1517: Psalter, first book printed in the Old Belarusian language by Francysk Skaryna on 6 August 1517
• 1541: Bovo-Bukh was the first non-religious book to be printed in Yiddish
• 1545: Linguae Vasconum Primitiae was the first book printed in Basque
• 1547: Martynas Mažvydas compiled and published the first printed Lithuanian book The Simple Words of Catechism
• 1550: Abecedarium was the first printed bookin the Slovenian language, printed by Primož Trubar.
• 1564: the first book in Irish was printed in Edinburgh, a translation of John Knox's 'Liturgy' by John Carswell, Bishop of the Hebrides.
• 1564: the first dated Russian book, Apostol, printed by Ivan Fyodorov
• 1568: the first book in Irish to be printed in Ireland was a Protestant catechism, containing a guide to spelling and sounds in Irish.
• 1577: Lekah Tov, a commentary on the Book of Esther, was the first book printed in the land of Israel
• 1581: Ostrog Bible, first complete printed edition of the Bible in Old Church Slavonic
• 1593: Doctrina Christiana was the first book printed in the Philippines
• 1640: The Bay Psalm Book, the first book printed in North America
• 1651: Abagar - Filip Stanislavov, first printed book in modern Bulgarian
• 1678-1703: Hortus Malabaricus included the first instance of Malayalam types being used for printing
• 1802: New South Wales General Standing Orders was the first book printed in Australia, comprising Government and General Orders issued between 1791 and 1802
• Aurora Australis, the first book published in Antarctica.

See also Editio princeps, Spread of printing

Recuyell of the Historyes of Troye or Recueil des Histoires de Troye, is a French courtly romance written by Raoul le Fevre, chaplain to Philip III, Duke of Burgundy. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... Constantine Lascaris (d. ... Jöns Buddes Missale Aboense was the first book printed for Finland. ... Oktoih is a book printed in Cetinje, Montenegro in 1494. ...  Countries where a West Slavic language is the national language  Countries where an East Slavic language is the national language  Countries where a South Slavic language is the national language The Slavic languages (also called Slavonic languages), a group of closely related languages of the Slavic peoples and a subgroup... The Cyrillic alphabet (or azbuka, from the old name of the first two letters) is an alphabet used for several East and South Slavic languages; (Belarusian, Bulgarian, Macedonian, Russian, Rusyn, Serbian, and Ukrainian) and many other languages of the former Soviet Union, Asia and Eastern Europe. ... Breton (Breton: Brezhoneg) is a Celtic language spoken by some of the inhabitants of Brittany (Breizh) in France. ... Hieromonk Makarije (lived in late 15th and early 16th century) is the founder of Serbian and Romanian printing, having printed the first book in Serbian language and Romanian language. ... Map of Romania with Wallachia in yellow. ... Hortulus Animae, polonice is a prayer book recognized as the first book printed in Polish. ... Polish (jÄ™zyk polski, polszczyzna) is the official language of Poland. ... Ruthenian was a historic East Slavic language, spoken in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and after 1569 in the East Slavic territories of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. ... FranciÅ¡ak Skaryna (or Skoryna; the first name also spelled as Francis, Franciszak, Frantsiszak, Francisk, Frantzisk, Francysk; Belarusian: ) was a Belarusian famous for being the printer of the first book in an Eastern Slavic language. ... The Bovo-Bukh (Bovo book; a. ... Yiddish (ייִדיש, Jiddisch) is a Germanic language spoken by about four million Jews throughout the world. ... Basque (native name: Euskara) is the language spoken by the Basque people who inhabit the Pyrenees in North-Central Spain and the adjoining region of South-Western France. ... Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Abecedarium (Abecednik) is along with the Katekizem (Catechism) the first Slovenian printed book. ... Slovenian or Slovene (slovenski jezik or shortly slovenščina) belongs to the family of South Slavic languages. ... Primož Trubar (June 9, 1508 – June 28, 1586) was a Slovenian Protestant reformer, the founder and the first superintendent of the Protestant Church of Slovenia, a consolidator of the Slovenian language and the author of the first printed book in Slovenian. ... The first monument to Fedorov was opened in Moscow in 1909. ... The Ostrog Bible The Ostrog Bible (Russian: ) was one of the earliest East Slavic translations of the Bible and the first complete printed edition of the Bible in Old Church Slavonic, published in Ostrog, in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, by the Russian printer Ivan Fyodorov in 1581 with the assistance... Old Church Slavonic (Old Bulgarian, Old Macedonian or Old Slavic) is the first literary Slavic language, developed from the Slavic dialect of Thessaloniki (Solun) by the 9th century Byzantine missionaries, Saints Cyril and Methodius. ... The Bay Psalm Book was the first book printed in British North America. ... Facsimile of Abagars title page Abagar (Абагар) is a breviary by the Bulgarian Roman Catholic Bishop of Nikopol Filip Stanislavov printed in Rome in 1651. ... The cover page of the original Latin edition of Hortus Malabaricus Hortus Malabaricus (meaning Garden of Malabar) is a comprehensive treatise that deals with the medicinal properties of the flora in the Indian state of Kerala. ... Aurora Australis written during the Nimrod Expedition of Antarctica led by Ernest Shackleton. ... In classical scholarship, editio princeps is a term of art. ... The global spread of printing with movable type from its origins in Germany began with the invention of the printing press by Johannes Gutenberg, (c. ...

Contemporary era

The demands of the British and Foreign Bible Society (founded 1804), the American Bible Society (founded 1816), and other non-denominational publishers for enormously large and impossibly inexpensive runs of texts led to numerous innovations. The introduction of steam printing presses a little before 1820, closely followed by new steam paper mills, constituted the two most major innovations. Together, they caused book prices to drop and the number of books to increase considerably. Numerous bibliographic features, like the positioning and formulation of titles and subtitles, were also affected by this new production method. New types of documents appeared later in the nineteenth century: photography, sound recording and film. The British and Foreign Bible Society, often known in Britain as simply as the Bible Society, is a non-denominational Christian charity that exists to make the Bible available throughout the world. ... The American Bible Society (ABS) is a group, founded in 1816, that publishes, distributes, and translates the Bible. ... Photography is the process of making pictures by means of capturing light on a light-sensitive medium, such as a sensor or film. ... Methods and media for sound recording are varied and have undergone significant changes between the first time sound was actually recorded for later playback until now. ... Film is a term that encompasses individual motion pictures, the field of film as an art form, and the motion picture industry. ...

A series of new developments occurred in the 1990s. The spread of digital multimedia, which encodes texts, images, animations, and sounds in a unique and simple form is a novel development. Hypertext further improved access to information. Finally, the internet lowered production and distribution costs, as did printing at the end of the Middle Ages. In computing, hypertext is a user interface paradigm for displaying documents which, according to an early definition (Nelson 1970), branch or perform on request. ...

It is difficult to predict the future of the book. A good deal of reference material, designed for direct access instead of sequential reading, as for example encyclopedias, exist less and less in for the form of books and more and more on the web. However, electronic books, or e-books, have not had much success to date. One can speculate that the codex form has a long future for everything that requires sequential reading, or for those texts which are as much objects of beauty as they are foundations for information: novels, essays, comic books or art books. This article or section includes a list of works cited or a list of external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks in-text citations. ... An essay is a short work of writing that treats a topic from an authors personal point of view. ... A comic book is a magazine or book containing the art form of comics. ...

Academic Programs

• University of Edinburgh Postgraduate Degree in The History of the Book
• University of Toronto. Graduate Program in Book History / Print Culture (MA, PhD). Link

The University of Toronto (U of T) is a coeducational public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. ...

Selected Resources

Books

• (1998-2002) The Cambridge history of the book in Britain. Cambridge UK ; New York: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-57346-7 (v. 3), ISBN 0-521-66182-X (v. 4).  Contents: v. 1 ed. Richard Gameson (publication forthcoming 2008), v. 2 eds. Nigel Morgan and Rod Thomson (publication forthcoming 2007), v. 3 1400-1557 eds. Lotte Hellinga and J.B. Trapp, v. 4 1557-1695 eds. John Barnard and D.F. McKenzie, with the assistance of Maureen Bell.

• (1989-) Histoire de l'édition française. Paris: Fayard : Cercle de la Librairie. ISBN 2-213-02399-9 (v. 1).  v. 1-4 ; eds. Roger Chartier and Henri-Jean Martin.

• (1988-) Histoire des bibliothèques françaises. Paris: Promodis-Éd. du Cercle de la Librairie. ISBN 2-903181-72-1 (v. 1).  v. 1-4 ; eds. André Vernet, Claude Jolly, Dominique Varry, Martine Poulain.

• Chartier, Roger (c2005). Inscrire et effacer : culture écrite et littérature (XIe-XVIIIe siècle). Paris: Gallimard : Le Seuil. ISBN 2-02-081580-X. 

• Darnton, Robert (1985, c1984). The great cat massacre and other episodes in French cultural history. Harmondsworth: Penguin. ISBN 0-14-055089-5. 

• Diringer, David (1982). The book before printing : ancient, medieval, and oriental. New York: Dover. ISBN 0-486-24243-9. 

• Eisenstein, Elizabeth (2005). The printing revolution in early modern Europe. Cambridge UK ; New York: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-84543-2, ISBN 0-521-60774-4. 

• Febvre, Lucien; and Henri-Jean Martin (1997). The coming of the book : the impact of printing 1450-1800. London: Verso. ISBN 1-85984-108-2.  tr. by David Gerard ; ed. by Geoffrey Nowell-Smith and David Wootton ; Note : reprint, other reprints by this publisher 1990 & 1984, originally published (London : N.L.B., 1976) ; Translation of L'apparition du livre.

• Finkelstein, David (2005). An introduction to book history. New York: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-31442-9, ISBN 0-415-31443-7. 

• (2004-2007) History of the book in Canada. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. ISBN 0-8020-8943-7 (v. 1), ISBN 080208012X (v. 2), ISBN 978-0-8020-9047-8 (v. 3).  Contents: v. 1 eds. Patricia Fleming and Fiona Black (2004), v. 2 eds. Patricia Fleming, Yvan Lamonde, and Fiona Black (2005), v. 3 eds. Carole Gerson and Jacques Michon (2007).

• Howsam, Leslie (2006). Old Books and New Histories: An orientation to studies in book and print culture. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. ISBN 978-0-8020-9438-4. 

• Katz, Bill (1998). Cuneiform to computer : a history of reference sources. Lanham Md.: Scarecrow Press. ISBN 0-8108-3290-9.  Series : History of the book, no. 4.

• Martin, Henri-Jean (c2004). Les métamorphoses du livre. Paris: Albin Michel. ISBN 2-226-14237-1.  Series : Itinéraires du savoir.

Henri-Jean Martin is a leading authority on the history of the book in Europe, and an expert on the history of writing and on the history of printing. ... Robert Darnton (born May 10, 1939) is an American cultural historian, recognized as a leading expert on eighteenth century France. ... David Diringer, (1900-1975), is a British linguist, alphabetologist, palaeographer, writer. ... Elizabeth Eisenstein is an American historian of the French Revolution and early 19th c. ... Lucien Febvre (July 22, 1878, Nancy - Saint-Amour, Jura, September 11, 1956) was a French historian best known for the role he played in establishing the Annales School of history. ... Henri-Jean Martin is a leading authority on the history of the book in Europe, and an expert on the history of writing and on the history of printing. ... Henri-Jean Martin is a leading authority on the history of the book in Europe, and an expert on the history of writing and on the history of printing. ...

Periodicals

• (1970-) Annual bibliography of the history of the printed book and libraries. The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff. ISSN 0303-5964. 

• (1956-) Archiv für Geschichte des Buchwesens. Frankfurt am Main: Buchhändler-Vereinigung. ISSN 0066-6327. 

• (1998-) Book History. United States of America: Society for the History of Authorship, Reading & Printing. ISSN 1098-7371. 

• (1971-) Quaerendo. Amsterdam: Theatrum Orbis Terrarum Ltd.. ISSN 0014-9527.  Note "A quarterly journal from the low countries devoted to manuscripts and printed books."

• (1971-) Revue française d'histoire du livre. Bordeaux: Société des bibliophiles de Guyenne. ISSN 0037-92120048-8070. 

References

1. ^ Bernhard Bischoff. Latin Palaeography: Antiquity and the Middle Ages, Cambridge University Press 2003 [reprint], p. 11.
2. ^ Leila Avrin. Scribes, Script and Books. The Book Arts from Antiquity to the Renaissance. American Library Association / The British Library 1991, p. 83.

External links

• Centre for the History of the Book
• Society for the History of Authorship, Reading and Publishing
• History of the Book at the American Antiquarian Society
• Rare Book School at the University of Virginia
• Toronto Centre for the Book
• Dan Traister's Page