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book
Early Books
Early in the history of bookmaking the printed book was distinguished in size by the number of times the original large sheet of paper on which the type was printed had been folded, i.e., folio, quarto, octavo, and duodecimo. With the advent of machine-made paper, these sizes were standardized. The standard octavo, according to the American Library Association, is between 20 cm and 25 cm in height.
Books apparently did not come into existence until long after writing, e.g., inscription, was widespread. Fragmentary early papyri represent literature in ancient Egypt and may possibly be considered as books, although it is customary to speak of the Book of the Dead as the first of the Egyptian papyrus books. The cuneiform tablets gathered into the great Assyrian library of Assurbanipal represented an enormous collection of works, but the book as we know it may be said to be derived from the Egyptian writings on papyrus.
The vast literature of the Greeks, collected in the greatest library of the ancient world, in Alexandria, was generally written on large sheets of papyrus, which were glued together and rolled up. The rolls varied greatly in size; many were about 1 ft (30 cm) wide and about 30 ft (9 m) long when unrolled. In the Hellenistic era large works were divided into tomes [Gr.,=cutting] that were stored together in cylinders and labeled.
The method of having the leaves held together in quires (24 or 25 sheets) in the fashion of the modern book seems not to have originated until about the 2d cent. A.D. From at least the early part of the 2d cent. B.C. the more permanent vellum (a type of fine parchment first used in the Middle East) was also used for writing books, and this grew to be very popular in the Middle Ages when books were copied by monks in the scriptoria of monasteries. In the scriptoria the art of illumination flourished, making artistic masterpieces of many medieval liturgical volumes.
Book Printing
The production of books in great quantity had to await the mechanical processes of printing from movable type. Printing was invented in China, where the first book printed by means of woodblocks is thought to date from the 9th cent. Korea developed movable metal type during the 13th cent. In the West movable metal type was developed by Johann Gutenberg of Mainz, and to a very large extent the history of the book is henceforth the history of printing.
Book production developed very rapidly, the craft becoming enormously sophisticated by the 16th cent. Italian printers set the standards of format and quality retained in Europe until the 19th cent. Great printing houses also arose in France and the Netherlands and, after a general decline in the 17th cent., in England and the United States. The 19th cent. witnessed machine replacement of all the old manual processes. By the end of the century printing quality had been so debased that a revolution, led by William Morris during the arts and crafts movement in England, was necessary to restore the concept of beauty to bookmaking.
Modern Book Production
Related Entries
Bibliography
For a brief and excellent bibliography, see H. Lehmann-Haupt, One Hundred Books about Bookmaking (1949). See also F. G. Kenyon, Books and Readers in Ancient Greece and Rome (2d ed. 1951); E. Chiera, They Wrote on Clay (1958); F. L. Schick, The Paperbound Book in America (1959); H. D. Vervliet, ed., The Book through Five Thousand Years (1972); W. Morris, The Ideal Book (reprints of essays and lectures on the book arts, ed. by W. S. Petersen, 1982); N. Howard, The Book (2005); A. Pettegree, The Book in the Renaissance (2010); M. Lyons, Books: A Living History (2011).
What does it mean when you dream about a book?
Books often symbolize knowledge and wisdom. Dusty old books may represent neglected or forgotten knowledge, or an earlier “chapter” of one’s life. Opening or closing a book may symbolize opening or closing a stage in one’s life. Other meanings embodied in familiar expressions may be evoked in dreams, such as the connotations of “bookworm” and “book learning” (abstract knowledge without the benefit of practical experience available from the “book of life”). To someone reared in a traditional Christian home, “the Book” represents the Bible and God’s commandments.
book
[bu̇k]book
Surface Book
A combination convertible-hybrid laptop computer from Microsoft. Introduced in 2015, the x86-based Surface Book screen detaches from the keyboard (hybrid) for a stand-alone tablet configuration; however, the screen can also be flipped over and reattached to the keyboard like a convertible laptop. A more powerful discrete graphics processor (GPU) resides in the keyboard, which makes the computer more robust for multimedia editing and similar tasks when attached. See Surface versions, discrete graphics, convertible laptop and hybrid laptop. |
| Hybrid or Convertible |
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| Available in 13.5" and 15" screen sizes, the Book's screen detaches (top) from the keyboard to function as a stand-alone tablet, or it can be reattached and remain with the keyboard (bottom). (Images courtesy of Microsoft.) |