AncestorsBooks Before Print

Lesson 1: The History of the

Book

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Welcome◦ Course

Description

◦ About this Course

Introduction◦ Lesson

Overview

◦ Lesson Objectives & Materials

The Beginning of Writing◦ What is a

Book?

◦ Historical Overview

◦ Early Communication

◦ Early Writing Materials

◦ Clay Tablets

◦ Papyrus

◦ Scrolls

◦ Ostraka

◦ Parchment

◦ Wax Tablets

◦ Palm-Leaf Books

◦ Paper

The Codex◦ Illuminated

Manuscripts

◦ The Codex

◦ Why Replace the Roll?

◦ Creating a Codex

◦ Scribal Work

◦ Rubrication & Illumination

◦ Binding

WELCOME TO…THE HISTORY OF THE BOOK!

Course Description

This course will give you a brief introduction

into the history of the book. From its

ancestral origins in cuneiform, papyrus and

parchment to Gutenberg’s printing press,

the modern paperback and electronic books

of today, learn about the technological

advances that helped civilizations

communicate with one another and record

both their history and their dreams.

About This Course

There is a required text

for this course:

◦ The Book: The Life Story of a

Technology

by Nicole Howard

For each lesson, you will:

◦ Read one chapter in the text.

◦ Review the lesson PowerPoint

containing additional material

and links to outside sources such

as videos.

◦ Submit a lesson reflection.

◦ Take an untimed, open book test.

This course is set-up in an

independent study fashion; so

you are responsible for

managing your time and turning

in the assignments on time.

Assignments completed or

turned in after the due date will

receive no credit.

Pace yourself as you work

through the materials so that

you have ample time to

complete the required

assignments.

If you have any

questions, please contact the

instructor BEFORE the due date

has passed.

If you want to work ahead and

finish the course early, feel free

to do so.

For additional information, refer

to the course syllabus.

Time Management

Plan to schedule 3-5 hours for each lesson in this course.◦ This is equivalent to meeting once a week for a typical

semester long on-campus course and having an hour of outside work for each meeting... a very typical set-up.

◦ What makes this course different from a typical class is that all of those hours are independent and outside of the classroom.

◦ Also, this course is condensed into a single 6-week period.

◦ Plan Accordingly.

It is also recommended that you schedule those hours over a series of days instead of trying to do all the work in one setting. If you allow your brain some time to process the material, you will find the reflection and tests easier to complete.

INTRODUCTION

Lesson Overview

The story of the book starts long before the book looked like a book. From the very beginning man has tried to find ways to communicate with others and to store a record of his life. In this lesson you will discover the earliest attempts at this communication. You will uncover the various types of writing materials used from the beginning of time through the early Middle Ages and discover their importance in both religion and society. From Mesopotamia to Egypt, and from China to Greece, you’ll encounter one of the world’s best uniting forces –written language.

“The development of

writing, of books and

of libraries has been

an evolutionary

process. The trail

from the earliest cave

paintings to the latest

electronic devices has

been long but it has

been direct and

meaningful. Each

step has led logically

to the next so that the

ladder of man’s

achievements in

communicating with

his neighbors has

been clear and

substantially

continuous.”

- Elmer D. Johnson

Communication, p. 11

Lesson Objectives &

Materials

Required Materials:

◦ The Book: The Life Story of a Technology – Intro &

Chapter 1

◦ Lesson 1 PowerPoint – Be sure to follow links provided

Due May 18:

◦ Lesson1 Reflection

◦ Test1

Successful completion of this lesson will enable you to

develop an understanding of the how the recording of

written language has changed from ancient times through

the Middle Ages.

THE BEGINNING OF WRITING

What is a Book?

The concept of a book has changed over time.

◦ During the 20th century, it was an object composed of inked sheets folded, cut and bound again.

◦ More recently, books have become screen displays on an electronic machine.

◦ Before these modern concepts, books came in other forms.

However, all books have a common thread. “Books” are in essence:

◦ A storehouse of human knowledge intended for dissemination in the form of an artifact that is portable – or at least transportable – and that contains arrangements of signs that convey information (Kilgour, 1998, p. 3)

Historical Overview

Transformation Date

1. Clay Tablet 2500 BC

2. Papyrus 2000 BC

3. Codex AD 150

printing 1450

steam power 1800

offset printing 1970

4. Electronic Book 2000

Over the last five thousand years there have been four transformations of the “book” in which each manifestation has differed from its predecessors in shape and structure.

For each of these major innovations five concurrent elements were necessary:◦ Societal need for information

◦ Technological knowledge and expertise

◦ Organizational experience and capability

◦ The capability of integrating a new form into existing information systems

◦ Economic viability

(Kilgour, 1998, pp. 5-6)

Early Communication The earliest communication involved a

series of grunts or cries supplemented

with gestures and/or sign language

This was not enough for “the imperative

needs of the human spirit.”

Led man to drawings and pictures to

express himself.

This was the first effort “to make thought

or feeling visible in a lasting form.”

While some drawings were accurate

representations of animals and humans,

others were shorthanded equivalents

and outlines that we can even

understand today.

Thus, without knowing it, man had

created writing.

Cave drawings evolved into pictographs,

then into ideograms, and finally into

phonograms.

This prehistoric petroglyph

(rock drawing) is typical of

those found along the

Columbia River. Some

examples of this type of

historical record are believed

to be 7,000 years old.2

(McMurtrie, 1937, p. 1)

Early Writing Materials

The Monuments of Blau ( 5500-5000 B.C.),

represent some of the earliest known records of

pictographs. These two pieces of thin greenish

stone are inscribed with pre-cuneiform

characters and are housed in the British

Museum.8

The first attempts at writing were on natural surfaces of rocks and walls.

Later, faces of cliffs were smoothed and planed for monumental inscriptions.

◦ Darius the Great left a gigantic record on the cliff of Behistun in Persia.

Huge boulders and great slabs of rock, or megaliths, were artificially set in place and inscribed.

◦ Egyptians later dressed the stone to create their obelisks.

Small stones were also used

Man probably also wrote on more perishable materials such as hides, wood, or bark. However, the only surviving writing samples from these ancient times are on stone, metal, or pottery.

◦ In more recent times, Native Americans drew their pictographs on buffalo skins or birch bark. (McMurtrie, 1937, p. 8-

10)

Clay Tablets of Mesopotamia

Probably the earliest surviving true writing material (used for the same purposes that we use paper and ink).

Characters were jabbed rather than drawn onto clay tablets while still soft with a stylus to make wedge-shaped marks.

This writing was called Cuneiform from the Latin word cunneus, meaning wedge.

After the writing was done, the tablets were baked until they were as hard as a brick.

“Contents range from state documents, codes of laws, treaties, and the like through religious treatises and works of science, history, and literature to court actions, partnership agreements, contracts, and even promissory

(McMurtrie, 1937, pp. 10-

11)

Administrative tablet with cylinder

seal impression of a male figure,

hunting dogs, and boars, 3100–

2900 B.C.9

Birth & Development of

Writing VIDEO:

Birth of Writing (3 min)

People living in southern Mesopotamia developed

one of the earliest writing systems in the world. The

system was developed so that information could be

recorded. This writing system began with pictures or

signs drawn on clay tablets. The signs changed over

many years.10

Papyrus Ancient Egyptians used the papyrus sheet or roll and the reed brush.

One of the oldest records of the Egyptians using papyrus is from a relief on the tomb of Ti, at Sakkara, dating to the 27th century B.C. showing a pair of scribes at work.

Scribes made their own ink as they needed it. The primary color was black. However, red ink was also used for the introductory words of paragraphs. This tradition carried over into medieval Europe.

The reed brush was created by chewing the end of a reed to fray the fibers. Thus, writing was a sort of brush painting.

The oldest papyrus scrolls which have been found were taking out of mummy cases dating back to about 3500 B.C.

Throughout the ancient Mediterranean world, papyrus was the accepted writing material for the ages. The latest know use of it is a papal bull of A.D. 1022

In this letter written in hieratic, a

cursive form of hieroglyphics, a

man informs his employer of the

spread of malicious gossip and how

the problem must be addressed.

The papyrus was found near the

temple at Deir el-Bahri in western

Thebes. 11

(McMurtrie, 1937, pp. 11-

16)

Making Paper from Papyrus

VIDEO: Egyptian Papyrus Factory (5 min, 38 sec)

Papyrus was used to make paper in ancient times. In medieval

times, parchment or vellum were used. Paper made of linen

rags, and eventually, of wood pulp, took over. 12

Scrolls

Scrolls were usually made of sheets of papyrus sewn or glued together.

Major Drawback? ◦ Very difficult to write on the side on

which the strips ran perpendicular to the direction of writing.

◦ Ridges of disrupted movement of pen.

Later scrolls were made of parchment or paper.

Those who wanted to write a letter or a short document would snip off a piece from the roll.

Authors of long works would need one or more rolls. For convenience, multiple rolls of long works were kept together in baskets or buckets of leather or wood. (Casson, 2001, p. 26; Clement, 1997, p. 2)

Facsimile of a 10th century Byzantine

manuscript13

Scroll Features Standard Size:

◦ Roll: 30 feet long x 7 to10 inches wide

◦ Sheet: 10 x 71/2 inches

Writing was in columns about 3 inches wide, called pagina.

Rolls started with a blank column to protect the roll.

Nothing equivalent to a title-page was present. However, there might be colophon at the end which would contain information about the book.

The title or author's name was usually written on a label that was attached to the outside of the roll; it hung down from the shelf and served to identify it.

Some scrolls had rods attached to make rolling and unrolling easier and some were kept in leather cases.

(Casson, 2001, p. 26)

Muse reading a scroll, perhaps

Clio, Boeotia c. 435-425 BC -

Louvre. 14

Ostraka

In addition to using clay tablets and papyrus for permanent records, the Greeks used other materials for their “scratch paper.” ◦ Broken pottery was often used

◦ Inscribed by scratching with a sharp object or with pen and ink

The Greek word for this was ostraka.

Ostracism was the institution devised by the Athenians whereby the citizens took a vote on whom in their mist they most wanted to get rid of and the sent the winner of this negative popularity contest into exile, was so called because the voters scratched their candidate’s name on ostraka.

Sherds used in an ostracism at

Athens15

(Casson, 2001, p. 24)

Parchment

Prepared skins of animals – primarily sheep or calves

Parchment made from calfskin (known as vellum) was the best

Because it was smooth, a broad-pointed pen made of reed or quill came into use

Known to have been used as early as about 500 B.C.

By the 4th century A.D. parchment had become the dominant writing

Parchment “books” were often kept in

rolls as they were easy to add to

since pieces of parchment could

conveniently be sewn together as the

records grew. 16

(McMurtrie, 1937, pp. 16-

17)

Making Parchment

VIDEO:

How Parchment is

Made (4 min, 4

sec)

Parchment is untanned animal hide that has

been dried under tension. It makes an excellent

writing surface and has been used for writing

since long before the advent of paper.17

Wax Tablets

Used by the Greeks and Romans for personal correspondence and for the records of business transactions.

Made of wood or ivory.

Had slightly raised borders with the depression being coated with a thin layer of blackened wax.

The stylus had a pointed end for tracing letters in the wax and a blunt, wide end for erasing writing by smoothing out the wax.

Often two or three were hinged together

A wax tablet was most commonly formed of

two pieces of wood and was called a diptych.

Sometimes tablets were made of three

pieces, called a triptych, or more, called

polyptychon. 18

(McMurtrie, 1937, pp. 17-

18)

Palm-Leaf Books Originate predominantly from the

southern and south-eastern areas of Asia, including India, Thailand, Indonesia, Cambodia and Laos.

How they are made:

◦ Palm leaves are divided into two parts.

◦ The leaves are then pressed flat, trimmed, and sanded smooth.

◦ They are inscribed with lettering from left to right by using a needle-like instrument that actually cuts into the surface of the leaf.

◦ Pigment is rubbed unto the lines to make them visible.

◦ The leaves may also be decorated with gilding or illustrations.

◦ They are made into “books” by stringing them together through holes in the leaves.

◦ Often, the “book” is covered with panels of wood, ivory, or other hard material.

Many of these documents are Buddhist religious texts, though other subjects are also found.

Written in Sanskrit , the Devimahatmya

is a work of in 700 verses arranged into

13 chapters extolling the greatness of

the Goddess and her various

manifestations. A single verse of the

text appears in an inscription on the

Dadhimatimata Temple in the former

Jodhpur state dated 608 AD. 19

(University of Southern Mississippi, 2008)

Paper VIDEO:

History of Paper (3 min, 6 sec)

There was a need for material less costly and more easily worked than parchment or vellum.

A.D. 105 – This new process was reported to Emperor Ho To by Ts’ai Lun, to who Chinese tradition gives credit for the invention.

Ts’ai Lun thought of using tree bark, hemp, rags, and fish nets which were not expensive as silk, as heavy as bamboo.

Paper dominated Asia for centuries before spreading to the Moslem world and eventually to Europe at the beginning of the 12th century.

(McMurtrie, 1937, p. 61)

Paper making has played an important

part in the histories of civilizations. Going

back to the ancient Egyptians who made

papyrus from reeds, paper has been

used together with ink and dye to create

one of the earliest forms of

communication as well as for decorative

purposes. 20

Making Paper

VIDEO:

The Papermaking

Process

(2 min, 8 sec)

In the early 700s, the Chinese invention of paper

arrived in the Muslim countries of Southwest

Asia. Suddenly, making books became cheaper

and easier. While parchment was a good writing

material, it was made from expensive animal

skins. Papyrus was cheap, but not very durable.

In comparison, paper could be made from cotton,

linen and other plant fibers, or even from old

rags. 21

THE CODEX

Illuminated Manuscripts

VIDEO:

Part 1 (9 min, 43

sec)

Part 2 (9 min, 44

sec)

Part 3 (9 min, 52

Art critic Andrew Graham-Dixon visits an

exhibition at the Fitzwilliam Museum,

Cambridge, which contains a treasure trove

of the world's most important illuminated

manuscripts. Germaine Greer joins the

modern-day illustrator Quentin Blake to

consider the religious and political power of

these beautiful medieval masterpieces, and

to assess their place in the history of art

and book production.

The Codex What we think of a book

(made up of leaves bound together at the side) appeared centuries after papyrus or parchment rolls.

The earliest form of this type of book was the codex.

(McMurtrie, 1937, p. 76)

The Codex Benedictus: an eleventh-

century lectionary from Monte Cassino. 23

Twelfth-century Beneventan manuscript

about 1070. 24

Lombard

Gradual.

Northern Italy,

mid-fifteenth

century. 22

Why did the Codex Replace the

Roll? More economical. Both sides

of the surface could be used.

More compact. In the earliest

codices the amount of papyrus

used was reduced by 50%. It

could also be more easily

stacked and shelved.

More comprehensive.

Several works, or individual

parts of a work could be

brought together instead of

being on separate rolls.

More convenient to use. The

codex is easier to handle.

Easier for purposes of

reference. It was easier to

locate a particular passage on

a specific page or folio in a

codex.

External Pressures. It is highly unlikely that the well-developed book industry of the ancient world would have altered its perfectly acceptable practices in producing rolls in exchange for codices without encouragement.

◦ The Christian church had much to do with making the codex popular.

The old volumen, or roll, was associated with the literary works of a pagan culture which the early church fathers sought to supplant.

Thus the writings of Christian authors were thought to be more appropriately presented in the codex form.(Clement, 1997, p. 3)

Creating a Codex

Scribes would assemble parchment or paper (or perhaps both), ink, and a pen (a reed in the early Middle Ages or a quill later)

They would then produce a quire, or a gathering of leaves. This could be accomplished in one of two ways:◦ Nested - take four sheets of

parchment or paper, fold each once (folio), and then nest one inside the other. This was the easiest method with large books.

◦ Folded - By folding the sheet twice (bifolium), one obtained a quire of four leaves or eight pages; by folding it three times one obtained eight leaves or sixteen pages-- the standard quire size of the Middle Ages. This was easier with smaller

(Clement, 1997, p. 9)

Then the quire was pricked to produce a series of small, almost invisible, holes to act as guides for ruling each page.

These could be made by using

◦ A punctorium (a stylus or an awl) - the scribe simply poked holes through the margin of the parchment or paper at regular intervals against a ruler to keep the line of prickings straight.

◦ A circinus (a pointed compass or dividers) –maintained a standard interval between prickingsas the scribe pivoted from one leg to the other.

◦ A star wheel - When pushed or pulled along a surface would prick it quickly and consistently.

The quire was then ruled using one of three methods:

◦ Stylus – Created a furrow as it is pulled across the surface

Produced rulings that are nearly invisible

Could not be used on paper as it would tear

◦ Lead plummet (an early form of pencil)

◦ Pen and ink

In preparation for writing, the scribe might also

◦ apply pumice to the surface of the parchment to smooth

◦ apply chalk to whiten it

◦ apply stanch grain to ensure that the ink would not bleed.

Paper required almost no preparation, but the scribe might smooth it with a polished stone. (Clement, 1997, p. 10)

Scribal Work

Although dictation to a group of scribes was quite

common in the ancient world, medieval scribes copied

individually.

Using an angled desk, a scribe would use a penknife in

his opposite hand to hold the writing surface in place and

to make erasures by scraping off wet ink.

A scribe would begin writing on the recto (first page,

right-hand side) of the quire, pausing to let the ink dry

before writing on the verso (back of page, or left-hand

side)

As the scribe finished the verso, he added a quire

signature to keep the it in order.

◦ Each quire of the book was designated by a letter of the

alphabet, and each folio or bifolium of the quire by a number.

Thus the second folio of the third quire would be designated

Cii.

As the scribe finished each page, he would take a fine-

nibbed pen and lightly write instructions in the margin on

how to fill blank spaces with rubrics, decorations,

capitals, pictures, etc.

After the text was copied, it was often checked by a

corrector who would compare the exemplar to the copy

and correct any errors. (Clement, 1997, pp. 10-

11)

Rubrication & Illumination

Specialized scribes would then supplement the text with red ink for emphasis. This could include:

◦ Chapter Headings

◦ Paragraph Marks

◦ Capital Letters

Then the codex would be decorated, painted and illuminated by several different scribes and artists.

◦ First an outline was created by a led plummet, sometimes with the use of a stencil.

◦ It was then inked, making it permanent

◦ Then illumination or gilding was applied

◦ Finally, it was painted Each color was applied in turn and

allowed to dry

Highlighting was then added

Rubrication and illumination in the

Malmesbury Bible from 1407. 25

(Clement, 1997, pp. 11-

12)

Binding

Usually took place after the book was purchased.

Directly related to an owner’s willingness to pay for it.

The binder made sure quires were in proper order

before placing them in a sewing frame.

Quires were attached with linen thread to several

leather thongs, flat or twisted strips of vellum, or cords.

Types of Bindings:

◦ Softbound - usually covered in vellum or parchment, though

stiffened leather was also used.

◦ Hardbound - bound in stout boards or pasteboard and

covered in leather, pigskin, etc

Other Features

◦ Metal bosses on the covers and metal corners for protection

when lying flat

◦ Titles only on fore-edges

◦ Covers held together with metal clasps

Decoration - ranged from simple tooling to more

detailed panel stamping or elaborate metalwork laden

with jewels.

(Clement, 1997, pp. 16-

17)

This book provides a rare

example of an original 15th

century binding. It is made

up of wooden boards

covered with tooled pigskin,

with a chain attached to the

back cover. The chain

indicates that the book was

once owned by an

institutional library, which

stored this book attached to

a shelf. Codex manuscripts

were expensive and scarce,

and libraries took measures

to protect them from theft or

loss. 26

CREDITS

BibliographyCasson, L. (2001). Libraries in the ancient world. New Haven:

Yale University Press.

Clement, R. W. (1997). Medieval and Renaissance book

production. Retrieved from

http://digitalcommons.usu.edu/lib pubs/10

Evolution of type. (2001). Retrieved from

http://www.mediumbold.com/04_thinking/type/origins/index.

html

Kilgour, F. G. (1998). The evolution of the book. New York:

Oxford University Press.

McMurtrie, D. C. (1937). The story of printing & bookmaking.

New York: Covici.

University of Southern Mississippi (2008, November). Palm leaf

manuscript. Retrieved from

http://www.lib.usm.edu/spcol/exhibitions/item_of_the_month

/iotm_nov_08.html

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