The history of the delivers is that of a succession of technological innovations which made it possible to improve quality of conservation of the text and the access to information, the portability and the production costs. This history is closely related to the political and economic contingencies, with the history of the ideas and the religions.

Origins and Antiquity

First supports

The writing is the condition of the existence of the Texte and the book. It is a system of linguistic signs making it possible to transmit and preserve abstract concepts. The writing seems to be elaborate between the {{mini IXe}} and it, initially in the form of images which became pictographic whole by simplification. From there were born then the ideograms, then the phonetic signs symbolizing sounds (syllables or letters).

But the book is also related to its support, with the human will to give a durable materiality to a text. The stone could be the oldest support of the writing. But it is the wood which would be the first true book support. The words biblos and liber have besides for first direction interior bark of a tree. Chinese , the ideogram of the book is with the image of shelves of bamboo. One also found wood shelves in the Easter Island.

One finds then shelves of clay used in Mésopotamie with the OJ the Calame, an instrument in the shape of triangle is used to print characters in still soft clay. It is the writing of the Assyrian S and the Sumérien S, in the shape of corners, from where the name of writing Cunéiforme. The shelves were cooked to be solidified. With Ninive, 22.000 shelves were found, dating from seventh century BC; it is the library of the kings of Assyrie, who had workshops of copyists and places of conservation. That supposes an organization around the book, a reflection on the conservation, the classification, etc

The Silk, in China, was also a support of the writing. One wrote using brushes. Many other supports were used: bone, bronzes, pottery, scale, etc In India, for example, one used dried sheets of palm tree. All the materials which make it possible to preserve and to forward a text are thus likely to become books. In this case, human body could to be also regarded as book, with tattooing, and if it is admitted that the human memory develops or changes with the appearance of the writing, he is perhaps not absurd to think that this faculty makes of the man an alive book (this idea is illustrated by Ray Bradbury in Fahrenheit 451 , Peter Greenaway in The Pillow Book ).

The papyrus

The shelves were replaced by volumina (plural of Volumen), rollers of papyruses, lighter and easier to transport. They are the principal supports of Antiquity, in Egypt, Greece and in Rome.

Production

See the article papyrus.

After having extracted marrow from the stems, a succession of operations (humidification, pressing, drying, joining, cutting) allowed to obtain supports of variable quality, best being used for the crowned writings. One wrote with a Calame (stem of reed cut at a peak) or with feathers of bird. The writing of the scribe Egyptians is called Hiératique , or sacerdotal writing; it is not the hieroglyphic writing , but a simplified form, more adapted to the manuscript writing (hiéroglyphes being generally engraved or being painted).

The book in papyrus

The book in papyrus has the shape of roller, joining of several sheets reaching the 10 meters. Certain books exceed the 40 meters (chronicle of the reign of Ramsès III). It is held in a horizontal way; the text is on only one side, laid out in columns. The title was indicated by a label related to the cylinder to roll up the book. The books in papyrus which we have come from tombs where crowned prayers and texts were deposited (Livre of dead the, beginning of III).

These examples show us that the development of the book, under its material aspect and seemingly outside, is dependant on contents structured by political values (history of the Pharaon S) and nuns (belief in beyond). The particular influence given to the writing and the words perhaps justified the search for means of conservations of the texts. These political and cultural influences on the history of the book will be still illustrated further.

Scribes

• See detailed article Scribe in ancient Egypt

The parchment

Gradually the Parchemin replaced the papyrus. The legend allots its invention to Eumène II, king of Pergame, from where the name of pergamineum which gave parchment . Its production starts about third century BC Réalisé out starting from animal skins (sheep, calf, ass, antelope, etc), it allows a better conservation in time; more solid, it also made it possible to erase the text (Palimpseste). It was a very expensive support, because of the scarcity of the matter and the make-ready time.

Greece and Rome

The roller of papyrus is called volumen in Latin, word which means circular motion , rolling up , spiral , swirl , revolution and finally, roller of written sheets, rolled manuscript, delivers.

The Romans used also shelves of wood, coated with wax where one could print and erase signs using a stylet, whose end was a point and the other a sphere. These wax tablets could be assembled in a form close to the Codex. They were used for example to learn the writing with the children (according to the methods evoked by Quintilien in its Institutions Oratories ).

Description

The volumen is rolled up around two vertical axes out of wooden. It allows only one sequential use: one is obliged to read the text in the order where he is written and it is impossible to pose a reference mark to reach directly a precise place. It is comparable with our video-cassettes. But the reader has moreover the two hands occupied to hold the vertical axes and cannot thus write at the same time as it reads. Only the volumen still use nowadays are the rollers of the Torah, in the synagogs.

Culture of the book

The authors of the Antiquité did not have any right on their works published; there were neither royalties nor right editors. Each one could make recopy a book, and even modify the contents of it. The editors earned money and the authors gained there especially glory: the book makes its author immortal. That is due to the traditional design of the culture: an author conforms to models, which he imitates while endeavouring to improve them. The statute of the author is not perceived like an absolutely personal statute.

From a political and religious point of view, the books were very early censured: those of Protagoras were thus burned, because he denied that one could know if the gods exist. Generally, the cultural conflicts involved important destruction of books: in 303, the emperor Dioclétien ordered to make burn the Christian books; and the Christian , in their turn, destroyed libraries. These practices are current in all the history of humanity. One sees which can be the stake of these fights around the book: it is a question of making disappear any trace from the ideas of the adversary and of thus depriving it of the posterity or the immortality which belonged to the direction of its work. One thus strikes violently an author when one attacks his works: it is a form of violence which has perhaps more effectiveness than physical violence.

But there is also a form of less visible censure, but quite as effective, insofar as the book is reserved for an elite; the book is not in the beginning a support of freedom of expression. It can be used to consolidate the values of a political system, as at the time of Auguste, emperor who skilfully brings together great writers around him: it is an ancient good example of the control of media by the political power.

Diffusion and conservation of the book in Greece

We do not have many information concerning the books in traditional Greece. Certain vases ({{mini Life}} and {{mini Ve}} front centuries J. - C.) represent volumina. There was undoubtedly no wide trade of the book, but there existed some sites devoted to the sale.

The diffusion, the conservation and the reflection on the cataloguing of the book and literary criticism develop for the period Hellénistique with the creation of large libraries, answering an encyclopedic desire that one finds already for example at Aristote and also to undoubtedly answer reasons of political prestige:

• with Alexandria, library created by Ptolémée Sôter and consisted Démétrios de Phalère. It would have contained 500  000 volumes (in the part of the Museion ) and 40  000 with the temple of Sérapis ( Sérapeion ). Museion is destroyed partially in 47 av. J. - C. (see Bibliothèque of Alexandria).

• with Pergame, founded by Attale Ier; it contained 200  000 volumes which were moved in Sérapeion by Marc-Antoine and Cléopâtre, after the destruction of Museion. Sérapéion was then destroyed partly in 391 apr. J. - C. by the Christian , and the last books disappear in 641 with the Arab conquest .
• with Athens, the Ptolemaion , which took importance following the destruction of the Bibliothèque of Alexandria; the library of Pantainos, towards 100 apr. J. - C.; the library of Hadrian, in 132 apr. J. - C.
• with Rhodos, a library trying to compete with Alexandria.
• with Antioche, a public library whose Euphorion de Chalcis was director at the end of the 3rd century.

The Bibliothèque S had workshops of copyists and the general organization of the books made it possible to provide the following functions:

• Conservation of a specimen of each book;

• Translation (Bible of Septantes for example);
• Critical arts person to establish the texts of reference for the copy (example: Iliade and the Odyssey );
• Constitution of catalogs of books;
• the copy itself which made it possible to diffuse the books.

The development of the edition in Rome

The edition of the book develops with Rome at first century BC with the Latin literature influenced by the hellenism. This diffusion relates to especially circles of well-read men. Thus Atticus is he the editor of his friend Cicéron. But the trade of the book gradually extends to all the Roman Empire: there are for example booksellers with Lyon. The book is thus diffused thanks to the extension of the Empire which implies the imposition of the Latin language to a great number of people (in Spain, in Africa, etc).

The Bibliothèque S are deprived or created at the instigation of individuals. Jules César wanted for example to create some with Rome: there it is seen still that the library is a political instrument of prestige.

In the year 377, there were with Rome 28 libraries, and it is known that there existed also many small libraries in other cities. In spite of this great diffusion of the book, we do not have a very complete idea of the literary activity in Antiquity bus of the thousands of books were lost.

The Middle Ages

At the end of the Antiquity (between the {{mini IIe}} and {{mini IVe}} centuries), the Codex will replace the Volumen. The book is not any more one continuous roller, but a whole of layers connected to the back. It then becomes possible to reach directly a precise place of the text. The codex is also easier to pose on a table, which makes it possible to the reader to take notes at the same time as it reads. The form codex improves with the separation of the words, the capital letters and the punctuation, which allow a quiet reading, then with the tables of content and the indices, which facilitate the direct access with information. This form is so effective, that it is still that of the book, more than 1500 years after its appearance.

The Papier will replace the parchment then gradually. Less expensive to produce, it allows a broader diffusion of the book.

The book in the monasteries

Many Christian books were destroyed by order of Dioclétien in 304. For the agitated periods of the invasions, in fact the monasteries will preserve for the Occident the religious texts and certain works of the Antiquité. But there will be also with Byzance important centers of copy.

The role of the monasteries in the conservation of the books is not without ambiguity:

• the reading was an important activity in the life of the monks, which was divided into prayer, professional work and manual work (in the order of the Bénédictin S for example). It was thus necessary to make copies of certain works. There were thus scriptoria (plural of scriptorium ) in much of monasteries, where one copied and decorated the manuscripts which were preserved in cupboards.

• but, contrary to an generally accepted idea, the conservation of the books did not have always as a finality to preserve the old culture: it was especially a question of including/understanding the religious texts, with the assistance of the ancient knowledge. Certain works thus were not recopied, considered to be too dangerous for the monks. Moreover, by need for support, the monks scraped the manuscripts, thus destroying old works. The transmission of the knowledge thus was especially centered on the crowned texts.

Copy and conservation of the books

In spite of this ambiguity, it remains that the monasteries in Occident and the Byzantine Empire allowed the conservation of a certain number of profane works, since libraries were created: by Cassiodore ( Vivarium in Calabria, towards 550); or by the emperor Constantin I {{er}} with Constantinople. There was thus many Bibliothèque S, but the survival of the books often depended on political struggles and ideological, which involved sometimes massive destruction or serious disorders in the edition (dispersion of the books, for example, during the quarrel of the Iconoclaste S between 730 and 840).

The scriptorium

It is the work place of the monks copyists: the books there are copied, decorated, connected and preserved. The armarius directed work and occupied the function of librarian.

The role of copyist had several dimensions: for example, thanks to this work of works circulated of a monastery to another; the copy also made it possible to the monks to learn works and to improve their religious training. Indeed, this hard work made reading of the book at the same time a appropriative writing with the service of God. The report/ratio with the book was thus defined according to the intellectual report/ratio in God. But if these copies were sometimes made for the monks themselves, there were also copies on order.

The copy in itself comprised several phases: preparation of the manuscript in the form of books linked once completed work, presentation of the pages, copies itself, revision, correction of the faults, decoration and Reliure. The book thus required varied competences, which often makes manuscript a collective work.

Transformation of the edition of the book at the 12th century

The revival of the cities in Europe will change the conditions of production of the book and will extend its influence, and the monastic period of the book will end. This revival accompanies the intellectual rebirth by the time. It is indeed around the first universities that new production structures develop: manuscripts of reference were used thus to the students and for the professors for teaching of the Théologie and the liberal arts. The development of the trade and the middle-class also involved a request for texts specialized or not (right, history, novels, etc). And it is at that time that the letters in vulgar language develop (courteous poetry, novels, etc). The trade of bookseller took an increasingly large importance consequently.

There were also royal creations of Bibliothèque S; by holy Louis and Charles V for example. Books are also gathered in private libraries, which will become very great extensive with 14th and 15th centuries.

It is at the 14th century that diffuses in Europe the use of paper. This support, less expensive than the Parchment, came from China via the Arab culture (11th and 12th centuries in Spain). It was useful especially for convenient editions, whereas the parchment was useful for luxurious editions.

The book in the East

China

The book (on bone, scales, wood and silk) exists in China since the III Papier was invented there about the 1st century. The discovery of the process containing bark of mulberry tree is allotted to Ts' have Louen, but it is perhaps older. One reproduced texts using seals engraved in relief. At the 11th century, a blacksmith, pi Cheng, invented the mobile characters, but this technique was employed little, perhaps because of the inadequate quality of ink. The Ouïgours, people of the Turkestan, also used this technique.

Description

We know several shapes of books in China: books in roller, engraving on wood, the books swirls, joining of sheets by the section, and the books butterflies.

Arab civilization

The Arabs learned at the 8th century manufacture from the Papier from the Chinese and made known it in Europe. They constituted impressive libraries, worthy of their field crop. They are the Arabs who transmitted an important part of Greek works in Europe. One finds of it an example with the redécouverte works of Aristote commented on by Avicenne, redécouverte which gave place to strong book arguments between Thomas d' Aquin and Siger of the Brabant.

Modern time

Development of techniques of Printing works by Gutenberg towards 1440 marks what one regarded as a true revolution of the book, which from now on is reproduced with many specimens, but remains on an artisanal scale. The book is not any more one object single, written or reproduced with the request. The edition of a book becomes a company, requiring capital for its realization and a market for its diffusion. N the other hand, the cost of each specimen very strongly drops, which increases the diffusion of the book considerably.

The book of form codex and printed on paper, such as we know it today, date thus end of the 15th century. The books printed before January 1st, 1501 are called Incunable S.

Contemporary time

The introduction of presses to be printed running on the vapor a little after 1820 and then the new mills with paper also running on the vapor constitute the only major innovations since the 15th century. Together, they made fall the price of the books and increase their number largely. Many bibliographical elements, like the positioning and the formulation of the titles and the subtitles, were also affected by this new series production. New types of Document S appear later at the 19th century: Photography, sound recordings and Cinema.

Beside the traditional editors and booksellers the Club of books is born in the United States at the beginning from the 20° century.

The rupture occurs in the Années 1990. The generalization of the multi-media numerical coding, which codes in the single and simple shape (0 or 1) of the texts, still images, animated images and sounds is an invention undoubtedly as considerable as that of the writing. The Hypertexte still improves the access to information. Lastly, Internet cause a drop in the production costs and of diffusion, like printing works at the end of the Middle Ages.

It is difficult to predict the future of the book. A big part of the information of reference, intended for an direct access and not for a sequential reading, such as for example the Encyclopedia S, exists less and less in the form of book and more and more in the form of Web site. The text separates from its support. However the E-book, or e-book , does not have for the moment not been a great success. One can think that the form codex still has a long future for all that requires a sequential reading, or which is a beautiful object as much as an information support: Romance S, the Test S, the cartoons or books of Article.

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