Book
A book is now a set of printed sheets of paper held together between two covers. The sheets of paper in a book are called pages. The pages have words written in them and maybe illustrations drawn. The first books were not printed, but written by hand in ink.
The book is a more flexible format than the earlier idea of the scroll. The change from scrolls to books began in the Roman Empire and took many centuries to become complete.
A writer of a book is often called an author. Someone who draws the pictures in a book is called an illustrator. Books can have more than one writer or illustrator.
A book can be a text that is a part of a larger collection of texts. A section of a text may be published as a book so that it only has one writer or only focuses on one subject area. Books written in this way can be understood without reading whole collection of writings. Examples are the Iliad, Odyssey, Bible, Quran and Torah. Encyclopedias often have separate articles written by different people, and are published as separate volumes. Each volume is a book.
Hardcover books have hard covers made of cardboard that is covered in cloth or leather and sewn together. Paperback books have covers made of stiff paper that is glued together. A small book is a "booklet" and may be stapled together. The words in books can be read aloud and recorded. These are called "audiobooks".
Books may be borrowed from a library or bought from a bookstore. People can make their own books and write in them, and add family photos and drawings. Some books are empty inside, like a diary, an address book, or photo album. These books are meant to be written in. Usually, the word "book" means that the pages inside have words, and often pictures.
Some books are written just for children, some are for entertainment, and some are textbooks for studying something in school, such as math or history.
Etymology
It is thought that the earliest Indo-European writings may have been carved on beech wood.[1] The Latin word codex, means a book in the modern sense (bound and with separate leaves). It originally meant 'block of wood'.[2]
Content of books
There are two main kinds of book text: fiction and non-fiction.
Fiction
These books are novels and short stories. They are stories that have not happened. They are often imagined by the writer. Many books are based on real events from history,but the writer creates imaginary characters or dialogue for the events.
Non-fiction
Non-fiction fiction are about true facts or things that have really happened. Some examples are dictionaries, cookbooks, textbooks for learning in school, or a biography (someone's life story).
Historical
Between the written manuscript and the book are several inventions. While manuscripts are hand-made, books are now industrial products.
Manuscripts
A common type of manuscript was the scroll. It is a long sheet that is rolled up. The sheet could have been made of papyrus (made by the Egyptians, by weaving the inner stems of the papyrus plant and then hammering them together), or parchment or vellum (very thin animal skin, first used by the ancient Greeks), or paper (made from plant fibers, invented by the Chinese). Manuscripts of this kind lasted to the 16th century and beyond. Turning the manuscript into a book required several developments.
Other systems
In Roman Britain we have examples of a message system which was widespread. It was wax on boards, reusable. Waxed boards could be scratched with messages such as (from one woman to another) "Dear, please come to my birthday party, it won't be the same without you". Many examples have been found near Roman encampments on the border with Scotland.
The codex
The Romans were the first people to put separate pieces of manuscript between covers, to form a codex. This was more convenient to handle and store than scrolls, but was not yet a book as we understand it.
Printing
Scrolls and codices were written and copied by hand. The Chinese invented woodblock printing, where shapes are carved out of a block of wood, then ink is applied to the carved side, and the block is pressed onto paper. This woodcut method was slow because the symbols and pictures were made by cutting away the surrounding wood.
Johannes Gutenberg was the first person to invent a machine for printing, called the printing press. He made it in the 15th century. This involved more than just a press because it involved the production of a movable metal type that was suitable for the machine process.
Initially, the machines were slow, and needed a muscle power to work. The Industrial Revolution brought steam power, and later electrification.[3][4][5]
Paper and ink
Paper had been invented in China in the 8th century, but it was kept secret for a long time. In Europe hand-made paper was available from about 1450. It was cheaper than parchment but still expensive, and the early printing was a slow process. Therefore, books remained rare. In 1800 the first machines for making paper from wood pulp were invented. New kinds of inks were also invented for various purposes, and machines were driven by steam engines and later by electricity.[6]
The common cheap supply of paper fed the faster printing machines, and books became cheaper. At the same time, in America, Britain and continental Europe, more people learnt to read. So, in the 19th century, many ordinary people could afford to buy books and could actually read them. Also in the 19th century came public libraries, so poorer people could get access to the best books.[7]
Binding
Printing was done on large sheets of paper, which were then folded, guillotined (cut) and sewn into the covers. Bookbinding and all the other processes have been done by machines since the 19th century.
Now
Today, some of the technologies have been changed, especially those involving illustration and typography. However, books look much the same as they did, with more illustration in color, but basically the same. That is because experience has shown that readers need certain things for pleasurable reading. Graphic design and typography are the practical arts used to make books attractive and useful to readers.
Book Media
The Gutenberg Bible, one of the first books to be printed using the printing press
12 metres-high (40 ft) sculpture of a stack of books at the Berlin Walk of Ideas, commemorating the invention of modern book printing
Fragments of the Instructions of Shuruppak, dated to the early 3rd millennium BC
Book of the Dead of Hunefer; c. 1275 BC; ink and pigments on papyrus; 45 × 90.5 cm; British Museum (London)
A Chinese bamboo book meets the modern definition of codex.
Bagh print, a traditional woodblock printing technique that originated in Bagh, Madhya Pradesh, India
Selected Teachings of Buddhist Sages and Son Masters, the earliest known book printed with movable metal type, printed in Korea, in 1377, Bibliothèque nationale de France
A 15th-century Incunable
An example of someone using a screen reader showing documents that are inaccessible, readable and accessible
Related pages
References
- ↑ "Northvegr – Holy Language Lexicon". November 3, 2008. Archived from the original on November 3, 2008. Retrieved December 30, 2016.
{{cite web}}: More than one of|archivedate=and|archive-date=specified (help); More than one of|archiveurl=and|archive-url=specified (help) - ↑ "codex". Oxford Reference. Archived from the original on May 9, 2022. Retrieved 2022-05-09.
- ↑ Lefebre L & Martin H-J. 1990. The coming of the book. new ed, London.
- ↑ Chappell W. & Bringhurst R. A short history of the printed word. Hartley & Marks, Vancouver.
- ↑ Moran, James 1971. The development of the printing press. Royal Society of Arts.
- ↑ Twyman, Michael 1970. Printing 1770–1970: an illustrated history of its development and uses in England. London: Eyre & Spottiswoode.
- ↑ Altick R.D. 1957. The English common reader: a social history of the mass reading public 1800–1900. University of Chicago Press.
Other websites
- WikiHow article on How to read a Book
- Google Book Search (Beta)
- Bestseller list of all times Archived 2011-02-02 at the Wayback Machine
- Book -Citizendium