History
Questions
- What was the usage of the book at first?
- How was book printing developed?
- How and why was typography and writing developed?
- what kind of techniques where developed for printing books?
- Are there different formats of books in history?
- What is the history of monasteries, in relation to the development of books?
- What was the influence of books like the bible?
- What is the Asian history of books and techniques?
- What are the most famous writers?
- Number of books in different eras?
- When was the first library built?
- When were the first audiobooks introduced?
Discussion
Origin
When writing systems were invented in ancient civilizations, nearly everything that could be written upon—stone, clay, tree bark, metal sheets—was used for writing.In China,silk was also a base for writing. Writing was done with brushes. Many other materials were used as bases: bone, bronze, pottery, shell, etc.Any material which will hold and transmit text is a candidate for books.
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.
Different formats of books
- 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.
- Wax tablets
Romans used wax-coated wooden tablets upon which they could write and erase by using a stylus. Usually these tablets were used for everyday purposes (accounting, notes) and for teaching writing to children.Several of these tablets could be assembled in a form similar to a codex.
- Papyrus
Papyrus is made by extracting the marrow from the stems, followed by steps of humidification, pressing, drying, gluing, and cutting. 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.
Many papyrus texts come from tombs, where prayers and sacred texts were deposited.This demonstrates that the development of the book, in its material makeup and external appearance, depended on a content dictated by political and religious values.
- Parchment
Parchment progressively replaced papyrus. Its production began around the third century BC. Made using the skins of animals, 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.