Books
The main function of a book is to be a portable entertainment for people. They
are usually just a volume of many pages bound together that could contain text,
illustrations or music; & unlike a private diary, it is intended for
circulation.
Handwritten Books
The first basic books were made of clay tablets, impressed with a stylus, used
by ancient Mesopotamians.
Scrolls are much more like the modern book. They were made by ancient Egyptians,
Greeks, & Romans & consisted of sheets of papyrus that formed into a continuous
strip was then rolled around a stick. To read them you have to unrolled it you
are reading. Papyrus rolls varied in length; the longest being the Egyptian
Harris papyrus in the British Museum in London, 40.5 m (133 ft) long.
Scrolls were often covered with wrappings & tagged with the title & the author's
name. Professional scribes reproduced works either by copying a text or copying
it from dictation. Athens, Alexandria, & Rome were great centres of book
production & exported books throughout the ancient world.
But, because of the expense, however, books were owned by temples, rulers, &
rich individuals.
Although papyrus was easily made, inexpensive, & an excellent writing surface,
it was brittle; in damp climates it disintegrated in less than 100 years. Thus,
a large amount of literature & records from the ancient world has been lost.
Parchment & vellum (specially prepared animal skins) did not have these
drawbacks. Peoples of the ancient Middle East had used scrolls made of tanned
leather or untanned parchment. King Eumenes II of Pergamum improved the
production of parchment in 200BC. Then its use greatly increased.
In the 4th century the scroll was replaced by the rectangular codex (Latin for
book), the direct ancestor of the modern book. The codex; was first used by the
Greeks & Romans for business accounts or school work; was a small, ringed
notebook consisting of two or more wooden tablets covered with wax. It could be
marked with a stylus, smoothed over, & reused many times. Additional leaves,
made of parchment, were sometimes inserted between the tablets. In time the
codex came to consist of many sheets of papyrus or parchment gathered in bundles
& folded in the middle. These gatherings were laid one upon the other, stitched
together through the folds, & attached to wooden boards by thongs. The codex
made it easier for readers to find their place or to refer ahead or back.
Medieval European Books
In the early Middle Ages in Europe books were written by churchmen for other
churchmen & for rulers. Most were portions of the Bible, commentary, liturgical
books or classical texts. The books were written out with a quill pen by monks
working in the scriptoria (Latin for writing rooms) of monasteries.
Many medieval books have brilliantly gold & colours to indicate the start of a
new paragraph, to illustrate the text, or to decorate the borders.
Medieval books had wooden covers, often strengthened with metal & fastened with
clasps. Many covers were bound in leather, sometimes with gold & silver work,
enamels, & gems on them. Books were few & costly; they were bought by the very
small percentage of the population that could afford them & that knew how to
read.
Books in Asia
In Asia the earliest form of book was made of wood or bamboo tablets tied with
cord. Another early form was strips of silk or paper. At first the strips were
wound around sticks to make scrolls. Later they were folded & stitched on one
side to make a book, which was glued to a light paper or cloth-covered case.
Printed Books
Printing from carved wood blocks was invented in China in the 6th century AD.
The first book printed from using wood blocks was a Chinese edition of the
Diamond Sutra, a Buddhist text, dating from 868.
Printing from reusable blocks was a much more efficient than copying by hand,
but each block took a long time to carve & could be used only for that one work.
In Europe the printing of books from wood blocks, a technique probably learned
from contact with the East, began in the late Middle Ages.
Renaissance Books
In the 15th century two new technological developments revolutionized the
production of European books. One was paper, which Europeans learned about from
China. The other was movable metal type, which Europeans invented independently.
The first book printed in movable type was the Gutenberg Bible in 1456. At the
same time public literacy increased greatly. Consequently, in the 16th century
both the number of works & the number of copies increased dramatically.
After the Industrial Revolution, book production became mechanized.Now the
efficiency of the total manufacture of books made the production of vast numbers
of books at relatively low costs.
History
Printing
Johannes Gutenberg and the Printing Press
The earliest dated printed book known is the "Diamond Sutra", printed in China
in 868 CE. However, it is suspected that book printing may have occurred long
before this date. In 1041, movable clay type was first invented in China.
Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press with replaceable wooden or metal
letters in 1436 (completed by 1440).
The Gutenberg press with its wooden and later metal movable type printing
brought down the price of printed materials and made such materials available
for the masses. It remained the standard until the 20th century. During the
centuries, many newer printing technologies were developed based on Gutenberg's
printing machine e.g. offset printing.
Brief Biography - Johannes Gutenberg
Johannes Gutenberg was a German goldsmith and inventor best known for the
Gutenberg press, an innovative printing machine that used movable type.
Gutenberg was born between 1394 and 1400 and died in 1468. In 1438, Gutenberg
began a business arrangement with Andreas Dritzehn, who funded his experiments
in printing. In 1450, Gutenberg began a second arrangement with German
businessman Johannes Fust. Fust lent Gutenberg the money to start a printing
business and build a large Gutenberg Press; their printing projects included the
now famous Gutenberg Bible. On September 30, 1452, Johann Guttenberg's Bible was
published becoming the first book to be published in volume.
Johannes Gutenberg
German printer and pioneer in the use of movable type, sometimes identified as
the first European to print with hand-set type cast in moulds.
Printing Press: History and Development
Johannes Gutenberg, a goldsmith and businessman from the mining town of Mainz in
southern Germany, borrowed money to develop a technology that changing the world
of communication.
One of the earliest newspapers, the Roman Acta Diurna, said to have been started
by Julius Caesar.
Typeface
A history of newspaper typeface design.
A Brief History of Newspapers
A history of newspapers, covering 500 years.
150 Years of Associated Press
The history of global newsgathering, including the technology that made global
newscasts possible.
Printing a Newspaper: 1692-1792
An overview of the process used in this era - newspaper printing.
Printing a Newspaper: 1792-1892
An overview of the process used in this era - newspaper printing.
Printing a Newspaper: 1892-1992
An overview of the process used in this era - newspaper printing.
Comic Books
The history of comic strips and comic book printing.
Inks & Pigments
Iron Gall Ink
This page will give a short overview of iron gall ink, its historical
significance, method of manufacture and main ingredients, and an introduction to
the chemical formation of the pigment.
Soy Ink Historical Summary
In 1979, the board of directors of the American Newspaper Publishers Association
(ANPA)--now known as the Newspaper directed its technical staff to develop an
alternative to the petroleum-based ink long used by the newspaper industry.
Silk Screening (Also called Serigraphy)
In 1907, Samuel Simon of Manchester England was awarded a patent for the process
of using silk fabric as a printing screen. Using materials other than silk for
screen printing has a long history that begins with the ancient art of
stencilling used by the Egyptians and Greeks as early as 2500 B.C. A few years
after Simon's patent, John Pilsworth of San Francisco developed a multicolour
process of silk screening called screen printing. The term "Serigraphy", comes
from the Latin word "Seri" (silk) and the Greek word "graphein" (to write or
draw).