Books.
Writing
is an art form that exercises one's mind and imagination but a book is
more than just written words. Much has been said about the virtues of
books and their contribution to the human civilisation, so that is
not what this blog is about.
 |
| Antique papyrus, showing the god Osiris and the weighing of the heart. (Source: Wikimedia Commons) |
The
history of books, dates back to the history of writing itself –
from clay tablets and papyrus, on to parchment or vellum and silk to
eventually, paper. Apart from the medium, the format of books also
changed with time, from clay tablets to scrolls and then came the
codex (which replaced the scroll sometime between the 2nd
and the 4th century AD). That is when the book ceased to be
a continuous roll but a collection of sheets, stacked and attached at
one end, often with a cover that is thicker than the sheets. This
format was so effective that 1500 years later, it is still the
standard book form, the introduction of paper (and the eventual
printing press) making books cheaper, allowing for greater
dissemination of knowledge.
