story of the book
Everyone knows that books tell stories. Less known is the story of the book itself. There is the story of its invention, the stories of the technologies used to make books, and the stories of the people who make books. There is also the story of books making history. These are all great stories and exciting adventures.
The codex, our familiar book with pages and covers bound along one edge, was invented in late Antiquity. This was about two thousands years ago. In Asian cultures the codex came from scrolls folded back and forth and in Western cultures the codex came from scrolls cut into square pieces that were folded.
Why did these inventions happen? That story is a mystery with many clues. The codex is easier to read in windy weather or on travels in open country. There is also a connection with writing letters. Every letter needs two readers and writing and reading skills spread as sending letters became popular and important. Emails are the letters today and books today are really long emails.
Books are machines, or, as we call them, technologies. All cultures in all times have technologies and all technologies are difficult to understand in detail and use well. Technologies of three P’s, (papyrus, parchment and paper) have been used to make books. We are familiar with paper, but do you also know how papyrus or parchment is made? Do you know how paper is made? Do you know about new technologies of book making like electronic ink? The alphabet is also a book technology. How does the alphabet work and why are the characters of the alphabet in a special order? Can you make your own alphabet?
Who makes books? Usually the people who make books are a secret. We don’t know the names of people who made old books and we don’t know the names of people who make books today. We know the names of authors who write books, but, for the most part, we don’t know the names of people who make books. Isn’t that strange? Stranger still, a book maker is a kind of author. Sewing the pages of a book is similar to reading a book. Do you want to try?
We count on books. We depend on books to tell us about times past in history and tell us about our own times. Everybody once lived in modern times, even people a thousand years ago. Old books prove this to us and make it easier to understand problems today. Librarians work to save old books and keep them in order on the shelf. Then historians come along and write more books about books in libraries. Books are in the middle of this circle.
Everyday is a story even if it is only one word. If you put the day stories together you can make a journal or scrapbook. Everyday is both real and imagined because it belongs to you and to everyone else at the same time. That is pretty exciting. So making books can be an adventure and part of that adventure can be years later when you re-read your book or when new friends see your book for the first time. You can make the next book on your computer. You can read your next book on the computer screen or print it on paper or do both.