A
butthole is a set of
collection of made of
paper,
parchment, or other
material, usually fastened together to hinge at one side. A single
sheet within a book is called a
leaf, and each
side of a leaf is called a
page. A book
produced in electronic format is known as an electronic book
(
e-book).
Books may also refer to a literature work, or a main division of
such a work. In
library
and information science, a book is called a
monograph, to distinguish it from serial
periodicals such as
magazines,
journals or
newspapers. The body of all written works
including books is
literature.
In
novels, a book may be divided into several
large sections, also called books (Book 1, Book 2, Book 3,
etc).
A lover of books is usually referred to as a
bibliophile, a bibliophilist, or a philobiblist,
or, more informally, a
bookworm.
A store where
books are bought and sold
is a bookstore or bookshop. Books can also be borrowed from
libraries.
Etymology
The word
book comes from
Old
English "bōc" which comes from
Germanic root "*bōk-",
cognate to
beech.Similarly, in
Slavic languages (e.g.
Russian and
Bulgarian "буква" (bukva)—"letter") is
cognate to "beech". It is thus conjectured that the earliest
Indo-European writings may
have been carved on
beech wood. Similarly, the
Latin word
codex, meaning a book in the modern sense
(bound and with separate leaves), originally meant "block of
wood."
History of books
Antiquity
When
writing systems were
invented in
ancient
civilizations, nearly everything that could be written
upon—stone,
clay, tree bark, metal
sheets—was used for writing.
Alphabetic
writing emerged in Egypt
around 1800
BC. At first the words were not separated from each other
(
scriptura continua) and there was no
punctuation. Texts were written from right to
left, left to right, and even so that alternate lines read in
opposite directions. The technical term for this type of writing is
'
boustrophedon,' which means literally
'ox-turning' for the way a farmer drives an ox to plough his
fields.
Scroll
Papyrus, a thick
paper-like material made by weaving the stems of the
papyrus plant, then pounding the woven sheet with a hammer-like
tool, was used for writing in
Ancient
Egypt, perhaps as early as the
First
Dynasty, although the first evidence is from the account books
of King
Neferirkare Kakai of the
Fifth Dynasty (about 2400 BC). Papyrus
sheets were glued together to form a
scroll. Tree bark such as
lime (Latin
liber, from there also
library) and other materials were also used.
According
to Herodotus (History 5:58), the Phoenicians
brought writing and papyrus to Greece around the
tenth or ninth century BC. The Greek word for papyrus as writing
material (biblion) and book (biblos) come from
the Phoenician port town Byblos
, through
which papyrus was exported to Greece. From Greeks we have
also the word tome ( ) which originally meant a slice or piece and
from there it became to denote "a roll of papyrus".
Tomus
was used by the Latins with exactly the same meaning as
volumen (see also below the explanation by Isidore of
Seville).
Whether made from papyrus,
parchment, or
paper in East Asia, scrolls were the dominant form of book in the
Hellenistic, Roman, Chinese and Hebrew cultures. The more modern
codex book format form took over the Roman
world by
late antiquity, but the
scroll format persisted much longer in Asia.
Codex
Papyrus scrolls were still dominant in the first
century AD, as witnessed by the findings in Pompeii
. The
first written mention of the codex as a form of book is from
Martial, in his Apophoreta
CLXXXIV at the end of the century, where he praises
its compactness. However the codex never gained much popularity in
the pagan Hellenistic world, and only within the Christian
community did it gain widespread use. This change happened
gradually during the third and fourth centuries, and the reasons
for adopting the codex form of the book are several: the format is
more economical, as both sides of the writing material can be used;
and it is portable, searchable, and easy to conceal. The Christian
authors may also have wanted to distinguish their writings from the
pagan texts written on scrolls.
Wax tablets were the normal writing
material in schools, in accounting, and for taking notes. They had
the advantage of being reusable: the wax could be melted, and
reformed into a blank. The custom of binding several wax tablets
together (Roman
pugillares) is a possible precursor for
modern books (i.e. codex). The etymology of the word codex (block
of wood) also suggests that it may have developed from wooden wax
tablets.
In the 5th century,
Isidore of
Seville explained the relation between codex, book and scroll
in his Etymologiae (VI.13): "A codex is composed of many books; a
book is of one scroll. It is called codex by way of metaphor from
the trunks (
codex) of trees or vines, as if it were a
wooden stock, because it contains in itself a multitude of books,
as it were of branches."
Middle Ages
Manuscripts
The fall of the
Roman Empire in the
fifth century A.D. saw the decline of the
culture of ancient Rome. Papyrus
became difficult to obtain due to lack of contact with Egypt, and
parchment, which had been used for
centuries, became the main writing material.
Monasteries carried on the
Latin
writing tradition in the
Western
Roman Empire.
Cassiodorus, in the
monastery of Vivarium (established around 540), stressed the
importance of copying texts.
St.
Benedict of Nursia, in his
Regula Monachorum (completed around
the middle of the 6th century) later also promoted reading. The
Rule of St. Benedict (Ch.
XLVIII), which set aside
certain times for reading, greatly influenced the monastic culture
of the
Middle Ages and is one of the
reasons why the clergy were the predominant readers of books. The
tradition and style of the Roman Empire still dominated, but slowly
the peculiar medieval book culture emerged.
Before the invention and adoption of the
printing press, almost all books were copied
by hand, which made books expensive and comparatively rare. Smaller
monasteries usually had only a few dozen books, medium-sized
perhaps a few hundred.
By the ninth century, larger collections held
around 500 volumes and even at the end of the Middle Ages, the
papal library in Avignon
and Paris
library of Sorbonne
held only around 2,000 volumes.
The
scriptorium of the
monastery was usually located over the
chapter house. Artificial light was forbidden
for fear it may damage the manuscripts. There were five types of
scribes:
- Calligraphers, who dealt in fine book production
- Copyists, who dealt with basic production and
correspondence
- Correctors, who collated and compared a finished book
with the manuscript from which it had been produced
- Illuminators, who painted illustrations
- Rubricators, who painted in the red letters
The bookmaking process was long and laborious. The parchment had to
be prepared, then the unbound pages were planned and ruled with a
blunt tool or lead, after which the text was written by the
scribe, who usually left blank areas for
illustration and
rubrication. Finally,
the book was bound by the
bookbinder.
Different types of ink were known in antiquity, usually prepared
from soot and gum, and later also from
gall
nuts and
iron vitriol. This gave
writing a brownish black color, but black or brown were not the
only colors used. There are texts written in red or even gold, and
different colors were used for illumination. Sometimes the whole
parchment was colored purple, and the text was written on it with
gold or silver (for example,
Codex
Argenteus).
Irish monks introduced spacing between words in the seventh
century. This facilitated reading, as these monks tended to be less
familiar with Latin. However, the use of spaces between words did
not become commonplace before the 12th century. It has been argued
that the use of spacing between words shows the transition from
semi-vocalized reading into silent reading.
The first books used
parchment or
vellum (
calf skin)
for the pages. The book covers were made of wood and covered with
leather. Because dried parchment tends to assume the form it had
before processing, the books were fitted with clasps or straps.
During the later
Middle Ages, when
public libraries appeared, up to 18th century, books were often
chained to a bookshelf or a
desk to prevent
theft. These chained books are called
libri
catenati.
At first, books were copied mostly in monasteries, one at a time.
With the rise of universities in the 13th century, the
Manuscript culture of the time led to an
increase in the demand for books, and a new system for copying
books appeared. The books were divided into unbound leaves
(
pecia), which were lent out to different copyists, so the
speed of book production was considerably increased. The system was
maintained by secular
stationers guilds,
which produced both religious and non-religious material.
Judaism has kept the art of the scribe alive
up to the present. According to Jewish tradition, the
Torah scroll placed in a
synagogue must be written by hand on parchment,
and a printed book would not do, though the congregation may use
printed prayer books, and printed copies of the Scriptures are used
for study outside the
synagogue. A
sofer (scribe) is a highly respected member of
any observant Jewish community.
Paper books
The
Arabs revolutionised the book's production
and its binding in the
medieval
Islamic world. They were the first to produce
paper books after they learnt paper industry from the
Chinese in the 8th century. Particular skills were developed for
script writing (
Arabic
calligraphy),
miniatures and
bookbinding. The people who worked in making
books were called
Warraqin or paper professionals. The
Arabs made books lighter—sewn with silk and bound with leather
covered paste boards, they had a flap that wrapped the book up when
not in use. As paper was less reactive to humidity, the heavy
boards were not needed.
The production of books became a real
industry and cities like Marrakech
, Morocco, had a street named Kutubiyyin or
book sellers which contained more than 100 bookshops in the 12th
century; the famous Koutoubia Mosque
is named so because of its location in this
street. In the words of Don Baker:
Wood block printing
In
woodblock printing, a relief
image of an entire page was carved into blocks of wood, inked, and
used to print copies of that page. This method originated in China,
in the
Han dynasty (before 220AD), as a
method of
printing on
textiles and later
paper, and
was widely used throughout
East Asia. The
oldest dated book printed by this method is
The Diamond Sutra (868 AD).
The method (called
Woodcut when
used in art) arrived in Europe in the early 14th century. Books
(known as
block-books), as well
as
playing-cards and
religious pictures, began to be produced by
this method. Creating an entire book was a painstaking process,
requiring a hand-carved block for each page; and the wood blocks
tended to crack, if stored for long. The monks or people who wrote
them were paid highly.
Movable type and incunabula
The Chinese inventor
Pi Sheng made
movable type of earthenware circa 1045, but
there are no known surviving examples of his printing.
Metal movable type was
invented in Korea
during the
Goryeo
Dynasty
(around 1230), but was not widely used: one reason
being the enormous Chinese
character set. Around 1450, in what is commonly regarded as
an independent invention,
Johannes
Gutenberg invented movable type in Europe, along with
innovations in casting the type based on a matrix and
hand mould. This invention gradually made books
less expensive to produce, and more widely available.
Early printed books, single sheets and images which were created
before the year 1501 in Europe are known as
incunabula.
A man born in 1453, the year of
the fall of Constantinople, could look back from his fiftieth year
on a lifetime in which about eight million books had been printed,
more perhaps than all the scribes of Europe had produced since
Constantine founded his city in A.D. 330.
Modern world
Steam-powered printing presses became popular in the early 1800s.
These machines could print 1,100 sheets per hour, but workers could
only set 2,000 letters per hour.
Monotype and
linotype presses were introduced in the late 19th
century. They could set more than 6,000 letters per hour and an
entire line of type at once.
The centuries after the 15th century were thus spent on improving
both the printing press and the conditions for
freedom of the press through the
gradual relaxation of restrictive censorship laws. See also
intellectual property,
public domain,
copyright. In mid-20th century, Europe book
production had risen to over 200,000 titles per year.
Book manufacturing in the modern world
The methods used for the printing and binding of books continued
fundamentally unchanged from the 15th century into the early years
of the 20th century. While there was of course more mechanization,
Gutenberg would have had no difficulty in understanding what was
going on if he had visited a book printer in 1900.
Gutenberg’s “invention” was the use of movable metal types,
assembled into words, lines, and pages and then printed by
letterpress. In letterpress printing ink is spread onto the tops of
raised metal type, and is transferred onto a sheet of paper which
is pressed against the type. Sheet-fed letterpress printing is
still available but tends to be used for collector’s books and is
now more of an art form than a commercial technique (see
Letterpress).
Today, the majority of books are printed by offset lithography in
which an image of the material to be printed is photographically or
digitally transferred to a flexible metal plate where it is
developed to exploit the antipathy between grease (the ink) and
water. When the plate is mounted on the press, water is spread over
it. The developed areas of the plate repel water thus allowing the
ink to adhere to only those parts of the plate which are to print.
The ink is then offset onto a rubbery blanket (to avoid all that
water soaking the paper) and then finally to the paper (see
Lithography).
When a book is printed the pages are laid out on the plate so that
after the printed sheet is folded the pages will be in the correct
sequence. [see Imposition] Books tend to be manufactured nowadays
in a few standard sizes. The sizes of books are usually specified
as “trim size”: the size of the page after the sheet has been
folded and trimmed. Trimming involves cutting approximately 1/8”
off top, bottom and fore-edge (the edge opposite to the spine) as
part of the binding process in order to remove the folds so that
the pages can be opened. The standard sizes result from sheet sizes
(therefore machine sizes) which became popular 200 or 300 years
ago, and have come to dominate the industry. The basic standard
commercial book sizes in America, always expressed as width x
height in USA; some examples are:4-1/4” x 7” (rack size
paperback)5-1/8” x 7-5/8” (digest size paperback)5-1/2” x
8-1/4”5-1/2” x 8-1/2”6-1/8” x 9-1/4”7” x 10”8-1/2” x 11”.These
“standard” trim sizes will often vary slightly depending on the
particular printing presses used, and on the imprecision of the
trimming operation. Of course other trim sizes are available, and
some publishers favor sizes not listed here which they might
nominate as “standard” as well, such as 6” x 9”, 8” x 10”. In
Britain the equivalent standard sizes differ slightly, as well as
now being expressed in millimeters, and with height preceding
width. Thus the UK equivalent of 6-1/8” x 9-1/4” is 234 x
156 mm. British conventions in this regard prevail throughout
the English speaking world, except for USA. The European book
manufacturing industry works to a completely different set of
standards.
Some books, particularly those with shorter runs (i.e. of which
fewer copies are to be made) will be printed on sheet-fed offset
presses, but most books are now printed on web presses, which are
fed by a continuous roll of paper, and can consequently print more
copies in a shorter time. On a sheet-fed press a stack of sheets of
paper stands at one end of the press, and each sheet passes through
the press individually. The paper will be printed on both sides and
delivered, flat, as a stack of paper at the other end of the press.
These sheets then have to be folded on another machine which uses
bars, rollers and cutters to fold the sheet up into one or more
signatures. A signature is a section of a book, usually of 32
pages, but sometimes 16, 48 or even 64 pages. After the signatures
are all folded they are gathered: placed in sequence in bins over a
circulating belt onto which one signature from each bin is dropped.
Thus as the line circulates a complete “book” is collected together
in one stack, next to another, and another.
A web press carries out the folding itself, delivering bundles of
signatures ready to go into the gathering line. Notice that when
the book is being printed it is being printed one (or two)
signatures at a time, not one complete book at a time. Thus if
there are to be 10,000 copies printed, the press will run 10,000 of
the first form (the pages imaged onto the first plate and its
back-up plate, representing one or two signatures), then 10,000 of
the next form, and so on till all the signatures have been printed.
Actually, because there is a known average spoilage rate in each of
the steps in the book’s progress through the manufacturing system,
if 10,000 books are to be made, the printer will print between
10,500 and 11,000 copies so that subsequent spoilage will still
allow the delivery of the ordered quantity of books. Sources of
spoilage tend to be mainly make-readies.
A make-ready is the preparatory work carried out by the pressmen to
get the printing press up to the required quality of impression.
Included in make-ready is the time taken to mount the plate onto
the machine, clean up any mess from the previous job, and get the
press up to speed. The main part of making-ready is however getting
the ink/water balance right, and ensuring that the inking is even
across the whole width of the paper. This is done by running paper
through the press and printing waste pages while adjusting the
press to improve quality. Desitometers are used to ensure even
inking and consistency from one form to another. As soon as the
pressman decides that the printing is correct, all the make-ready
sheets will be discarded, and the press will start making books.
Similar make readies take place in the folding and binding areas,
each involving spoilage of paper.
After the signatures are folded and gathered, they move into the
bindery. In the middle of the last century there were still many
trade binders – stand-alone binding companies which did no
printing, specializing in binding alone. At that time, largely
because of the dominance of letterpress printing, the pattern of
the industry was for typesetting and printing to take place in one
location, and binding in a different factory. When type was all
metal, a typical book’s worth of type would be bulky, fragile and
heavy. The less it was moved in this condition the better: so it
was almost invariable that printing would be carried out in the
same location as the typesetting. Printed sheets on the other hand
could easily be moved. Now, because of the increasing
computerization of the process of preparing a book for the printer,
the typesetting part of the job has flowed upstream, where it is
done either by separately contracting companies working for the
publisher, by the publishers themselves, or even by the authors.
Mergers in the book manufacturing industry mean that it is now
unusual to find a bindery which is not also involved in book
printing (and vice versa).
If the book is a hardback its path through the bindery will involve
more points of activity than if it is a paperback. A paperback
binding line (a number of pieces of machinery linked by conveyor
belts) involves few steps. The gathered signatures, book blocks,
will be fed into the line where they will one by one be gripped by
plates converging from each side of the book, turned spine up and
advanced towards a gluing station. En route the spine of the book
block will be ground off leaving a roughened edge to the tightly
gripped collection of pages. The grinding leaves fibers which will
grip onto the glue which is then spread onto the spine of the book.
Covers then meet up with the book blocks, and one cover is dropped
onto the glued spine of each book block, and is pressed against the
spine by rollers. The book is then carried forward to the trimming
station, where a three-knife trimmer will simultaneously cut the
top and bottom and the fore-edge of the paperback to leave clear
square edges. The books are then packed into cartons, or packed on
skids, and shipped.
Binding a hardback is more complicated. Look at a hardback book and
you will see the cover overlaps the pages by about 1/8” all round.
These overlaps are called squares. The blank piece of paper inside
the cover is called the endpaper, or endsheet: it is of somewhat
stronger paper than the rest of the book as it is the endpapers
that hold the book into the case. The endpapers will be tipped to
the first and last signatures before the separate signatures are
placed into the bins on the gathering line. Tipping involves
spreading some glue along the spine edge of the folded endpaper and
pressing the endpaper against the signature. The gathered
signatures are then glued along the spine, and the book block is
trimmed, like the paperback, but will continue after this to the
rounder and backer. The book block together with its endpapers will
be gripped from the sides and passed under a roller with presses it
from side to side, smashing the spine down and out around the sides
so that the entire book takes on a rounded cross section: convex on
the spine, concave at the fore-edge, with “ears” projecting on
either side of the spine. Then the spine is glued again, a paper
liner is stuck to it and headbands and footbands are applied. Next
a crash lining (an open weave cloth somewhat like a stronger
cheesecloth) is usually applied, overlapping the sides of the spine
by an inch or more. Finally the inside of the case, which has been
constructed and foil-stamped off-line on a separate machine, is
glued on either side (but not on the spine area) and placed over
the book block. This entire sandwich is now gripped from the
outside and pressed together to form a solid bond between the
endpapers and the inside of the case. The crash lining, which is
glued to the spine of the pages, but not the spine of the case, is
held between the endpapers and the case sides, and in fact provides
most of the strength holding the book block into the case. The book
will then be jacketed (most often by hand, allowing this stage to
be an inspection stage also) before being packed ready for
shipment.
The sequence of events can vary slightly, and usually the entire
sequence does not occur in one continuous pass through a binding
line. What has been described above is unsewn binding, now
increasingly common. The signatures of a book can also be held
together by Smyth sewing. Needles pass through the spine fold of
each signature in succession, from the outside to the center of the
fold, sewing the pages of the signature together and each signature
to its neighbors. McCain sewing, often used in schoolbook binding,
involves drilling holes through the entire book and sewing through
all the pages from front to back near the spine edge. Both of these
methods mean that the folds in the spine of the book will not be
ground off in the binding line. This is true of another technique,
notch binding, where gashes about an inch long are made at
intervals through the fold in the spine of each signature, parallel
to the spine direction. In the binding line glue is forced into
these “notches” right to the center of the signature, so that every
pair of pages in the signature is bonded to every other one, just
as in the Smyth sewn book. The rest of the binding process is
similar in all instances. Sewn and notch bound books can be bound
as either hardbacks or paperbacks.
Making cases happens off-line and prior to the book’s arrival at
the binding line. In the most basic case making, two pieces of
cardboard are placed onto a glued piece of cloth with a space
between them into which is glued a thinner board cut to the width
of the spine of the book. The overlapping edges of the cloth (about
5/8” all round) are folded over the boards, and pressed down to
adhere. After case making the stack of cases will go to the foil
stamping area. Metal dies, photoengraved elsewhere, are mounted in
the stamping machine and rolls of foil are positioned to pass
between the dies and the case to be stamped. Heat and pressure
cause the foil to detach from its backing and adhere to the case.
Foils come in various shades of gold and silver and in a variety
pigment colors, and by careful setup quite elaborate effects can be
achieved by using different rolls of foil on the one book. Cases
can also be made from paper which has been printed separately and
then protected with clear film lamination. A three-piece case is
made similarly but has a different material on the spine and
overlapping onto the sides: so it starts out as three pieces of
material, one each of a cheaper material for the sides and the
different, stronger material for the spine.
Recent developments in book manufacturing include the development
of digital printing. Book pages are printed, in much the same way
as an office copier works, using toner rather than ink. Each book
is printed in one pass, not as separate signatures. Digital
printing has permitted the manufacture of much smaller quantities
than offset, in part because of the absence of make readies and of
spoilage. One might think of a web press as printing quantities
over 2000, quantities from 250 to 2000 being printed on sheet-fed
presses, and digital presses doing quantities below 250. These
numbers are of course only approximate and will vary from supplier
to supplier, and from book to book depending on its
characteristics. Digital printing has opened up the possibility of
print-on-demand, where no books are printed until after an order is
received from a customer.
Transition to digital format
The term
e-book is a contraction of
"electronic book"; it refers to a digital version of a conventional
print book. An e-book is usually made available through the
internet, but also on CD-ROM and other forms. E-Books may be read
either via a computer or by means of a portable book display device
known as an e-book reader, such as the
Sony
Reader,
Barnes & Noble
Nook or the
Amazon Kindle. These
devices attempt to mimic the experience of reading a print
book.
Throughout the 20th century, libraries have faced an
ever-increasing rate of publishing, sometimes called an
information explosion. The advent of
electronic publishing and the
Internet means that much new information is
not printed in paper books, but is made available online through a
digital library, on
CD-ROM, or in the form of e-books. An
on-line book is an e-book that is available
online through the internet.
Though many books are produced digitally, most digital versions are
not available to the public, and there is no decline in the rate of
paper publishing . There is an effort, however, to convert books
that are in the
public domain into a
digital medium for unlimited redistribution and infinite
availability. This effort is spearheaded by
Project Gutenberg combined with
Distributed Proofreaders.
There have also been new developments in the process of publishing
books. Technologies such as
print on
demand, which make it possible to print as few as one book at a
time, have made self-publishing much easier and more affordable.
On-demand publishing has allowed publishers, by avoiding the high
costs of warehousing, to keep low-selling books in print rather
than declaring them out of print.
Book structure
[[Image:Bookinfo.svg|right|300px|thumb|Scheme of common book
design
- Belly band
- Flap
- Endpaper
- Book cover
- Top edge
- Fore edge
- Tail edge
- Right page, recto
- Left page, verso
- Gutter
]]
The common structural parts of a book include:
- Body: the text or contents, the pages often collected or folded
into signatures; the pages are usually
numbered sequentially, and often divided into chapters.
- Back matter
- Flyleaf: The blank leaf or leaves (if any) preceding the back
free endpaper.
- Rear endpaper
- Rear cover
A thin marker, commonly made of paper or card, used to keep one's
place in a book is a
bookmark. Bookmarks
were used throughout the medieval period, consisting usually of a
small parchment strip attached to the edge of folio (or a piece of
cord attached to headband). Bookmarks in the eighteenth and
nineteenth centuries were narrow silk ribbons bound into the book
and become widespread in the 1850s. They were usually made from
silk, embroidered fabrics or leather. Not until the 1880s did paper
and other materials become more common.
The process of physically assembling a book from a number of folded
or unfolded sheets of paper is
bookbinding.
Sizes
The size of a modern book is based on the printing area of a common
flatbed press. The pages of type were arranged and clamped in a
frame, so that when printed on a sheet of paper the full size of
the press, the pages would be right side up and in order when the
sheet was folded, and the folded edges trimmed.
The most common book sizes are:
- Quarto (4to): the sheet of paper is folded twice, forming four
leaves (eight pages) approximately 11-13 inches (ca 30 cm)
tall
- Octavo (8vo): the most common size for current hardcover books.
The sheet is folded three times into eight leaves (16 pages) up to
9 ¾" (ca 23 cm) tall.
- DuoDecimo (12mo): a size between 8vo and 16mo, up to 7 ¾" (ca
18 cm) tall
- Sextodecimo (16mo): the sheet is folded four times, forming
sixteen leaves (32 pages) up to 6 ¾" (ca 15 cm) tall
Sizes smaller than 16mo are:
- 24mo: up to 5 ¾" (ca 13 cm) tall.
- 32mo: up to 5" (ca 12 cm) tall.
- 48mo: up to 4" (ca 10 cm) tall.
- 64mo: up to 3" (ca 8 cm) tall.
Small books can be called
booklets.
Sizes larger than quarto are:
- Folio: up to 15" (ca 38 cm) tall.
- Elephant Folio: up to 23" (ca 58 cm) tall.
- Atlas Folio: up to 25" (ca 63 cm) tall.
- Double Elephant Folio: up to 50" (ca 127 cm) tall.
The largest extant medieval manuscript in the world is
Codex Gigas 92 × 50 × 22 cm.
The world's
largest book
made of stone is in Kuthodaw Pagoda
(Myanmar
).
Types of books
Types of books according to their contents
A common separation by content are
fiction
and
non-fictional books. By no means are
books limited to this classification, but it is a separation that
can be found in most
collections,
libraries, and
bookstores.
Fiction
Many of the books published today are fictitious stories. They are
in-part or completely untrue or
fantasy.
Historically, paper production was considered too expensive to be
used for
entertainment. An increase in
global
literacy and
print technology led to the increased publication
of books for the purpose of entertainment, and allegorical
social commentary. Most fiction is
additionally categorized by
genre.
The
novel is the most common
form of fictional book. Novels are stories that typically feature a
plot,
setting,
themes and
characters. Stories and narrative are not
restricted to any topic; a novel can be whimsical, serious or
controversial. The novel has had a
tremendous impact on entertainment and
publishing markets.
Comic books or
graphic novels are
books in which the story is not told, but illustrated.
Non-fiction
In a library, a
reference book is a
general type of non-fiction book which provides information as
opposed to telling a story, essay, commentary, or otherwise
supporting a point of view. An
almanac is a
very general reference book, usually one-volume, with lists of data
and information on many topics. An
encyclopedia is a book or set of books designed
to have more in-depth articles on many topics. A book listing
words, their
etymology, meanings, and other information is
called a
dictionary. A book which is a
collection of
maps is an
atlas. A more specific reference book
with tables or lists of data and information about a certain topic,
often intended for professional use, is often called a
handbook. Books which try to list references and
abstracts in a certain broad area may be called an
index, such as
Engineering
Index, or
abstracts such as
chemical abstracts and biological abstracts.
Books with technical information on how to do something or how to
use some equipment are called
instruction manuals. Other popular
how-to books include
cookbooks and
home
improvement books.
Students typically store and carry
textbooks and
schoolbooks for study purposes.
Elementary school pupils often use
workbooks, which are published with spaces
or blanks to be filled by them for study or
homework.
In US
higher education, it is common for a
student to take an exam using a blue
book.
There is a large set of books that are made only to write private
ideas, notes, and accounts. These books are rarely published and
are typically destroyed or remain private.
Notebooks are blank books to be written in by the
user.
Students and
writers commonly use them for taking notes.
Scientists and other researchers use
lab notebooks to record their work. They often
feature spiral coil bindings at the edge so that pages may easily
be torn out.
Address books,
phone books, and
calendar/appointment books are commonly used on a
daily basis for recording appointments, meetings and personal
contact information.
Books for recording periodic entries by the user, such as daily
information about a journey, are called
logbooks or simply logs. A similar book for writing
the owner's daily private personal events, information, and ideas
is called a
diary or
personal journal.
Businesses use
accounting books such as journals and
ledgers to record financial data in a practice called
bookkeeping.
Other types
There are several other types of books which are not commonly found
under this system.
Albums are books
for holding a group of items belonging to a particular theme, such
as a set of
photographs, card
collections, and memorabilia. One common example is
stamp albums, which are used by many hobbyists
to protect and organize their collections of
postage stamps. Such albums are often made
using removable plastic pages held inside in a ringed binder or
other similar folder.
Hymnals are books with collections of
musical hymns that can
typically be found in
churches.
Prayerbooks or
missals are books that contain written
prayers and are commonly carried by
monks,
nuns, and other devoted
followers or
clergy.
Types of books according to their binding or cover
Hardcover books have a stiff binding.
Paperback books have cheaper, flexible
covers which tend to be less durable. An alternative to paperback
is the glossy cover, otherwise known as a dust cover, found on
magazines, and comic books. Spiral-bound books are bound by spirals
made of metal or plastic. Examples of spiral-bound books include:
teachers' manuals and
puzzle books
(
crosswords,
sudoku).
Publishing is a process for producing
pre-printed books, magazines, and newspapers for the reader/user to
buy.
Publishers may produce low-cost, pre-publication copies known as
galleys or 'bound proofs' for
promotional purposes, such as generating reviews in advance of
publication. Galleys are usually made as cheaply as possible, since
they are not intended for sale.
Collections of books
Private or personal libraries made up of non-fiction and fiction
books, (as opposed to the state or institutional records kept in
archives) first appeared in
classical Greece. In ancient world the
maintaining of a
library was usually (but
not exclusively) the privilege of a wealthy individual. These
libraries could have been either private or public, i.e. for
individuals that were interested in using them. The difference from
a modern
public library lies in the
fact that they were usually not funded from public sources. It is
estimated that in the city of Rome at the end of the third century
there were around 30 public libraries. Public libraries also
existed in other cities of the ancient
Mediterranean region
(e.g.
Library of Alexandria
). Later, in the Middle Ages, monasteries and
universities had also libraries that could be accessible to general
public. Typically not the whole collection was available to public,
the books could not be borrowed and often were chained to reading
stands to prevent theft.
The beginning of modern public library begins around 15th century
when individuals started to donate books to towns. The growth of a
public library system in the United
States started in the late 19th century and was much helped by
donations from
Andrew Carnegie. This
reflected classes in a society: The poor or the middle class had to
access most books through a public library or by other means while
the rich could afford to have a
private
library built in their homes.
The advent of
paperback books in the 20th
century led to an explosion of popular publishing. Paperback books
made owning books affordable for many people. Paperback books often
included works from genres that had previously been published
mostly in
pulp magazines. As a result
of the low cost of such books and the spread of bookstores filled
with them (in addition to the creation of a smaller market of
extremely cheap used paperbacks) owning a private library ceased to
be a status symbol for the rich.
In library and booksellers' catalogues, it is common to include an
abbreviation such as "Crown 8vo" to indicate the
paper size from which the book is made.
When rows of books are lined on a bookshelf,
bookends are sometimes needed to keep them from
slanting.
Identification and classification
During the 20th century,
librarians were
concerned about keeping track of the many books being added yearly
to the
Gutenberg Galaxy. Through a
global society called the
International Federation of Library Associations and
Institutions (IFLA), they devised a series of tools including
the
International
Standard Bibliographic Description (ISBD).
Each book is specified by an International Standard Book Number, or
ISBN, which is unique to every edition of every
book produced by participating publishers, world wide. It is
managed by the ISBN Society. An ISBN has four parts: the first part
is the country code, the second the
publisher code, and the third the title code. The
last part is a check digit, and can take values from 0–9 and X
(10). The
EAN Barcodes numbers for books are derived from the ISBN
by prefixing 978, for
Bookland, and calculating a new
check digit.
Commercial publishers in industrialized countries generally assign
ISBNs to their books, so buyers may presume that the ISBN is part
of a total international system, with no exceptions. However many
government publishers, in industrial as well as developing
countries, do not participate fully in the ISBN system, and publish
books which do not have ISBNs.
A large or public collection requires a
catalogue. Codes called "call numbers"
relate the books to the catalogue, and determine their locations on
the shelves. Call numbers are based on a
Library classification system. The
call number is placed on the spine of the book, normally a short
distance before the bottom, and inside.
Institutional or national standards, such as
ANSI/
NISO Z39.41 - 1997, establish the correct way to place
information (such as the title, or the name of the author) on book
spines, and on "shelvable" book-like objects, such as containers
for
DVDs,
video tapes
and
software.
One of the earliest and most widely known systems of cataloguing
books is the
Dewey Decimal
System. This system has fallen out of use in some places,
mainly because of a Eurocentric bias and other difficulties
applying the system to modern libraries. However, it is still used
by most public libraries in America. The
Library of Congress
Classification system is more popular in university
libraries.
Information about books and
authors can be
stored in databases like
online general-interest
book databases.
Metadata about a book may include its ISBN
or other classification number (see above), the names of
contributors (author, editor, illustrator) and publisher, its date
and size, and the language of the text.
Classification systems
Uses for books
Aside from the primary purpose of reading them, books are also used
for other ends:
- A book can be an artistic artifact; this is sometimes known as
an artists' book.
- A book may be evaluated by a reader or professional writer to
create a book review.
- A book may be read by a group of people to use as a spark for
social or academic discussion, as in a book club.
- A book may be studied by students as the subject of a writing
and analysis exercise in the form of a book
report.
- Books are sometimes used for their exterior appearance to
decorate a room, such as a study.
Paper and conservation issues
Though
papermaking in Europe had begun around
the 11th century, up until the beginning of 16th century
vellum and paper were produced congruent to one
another, vellum being the more expensive and durable option.
Printers or publishers would often issue the same publication on
both materials, to cater to more than one market.
Paper was first made in China, as early as 200 B.C., and reached
Europe through
Muslim territories.
At first made of rags, the
industrial revolution changed
paper-making practices, allowing for paper to be made out of wood
pulp.
Paper made from
wood pulp was introduced
in the early-19th century, because it was cheaper than
linen or
abaca cloth-based
papers. Pulp-based paper made books less expensive to the general
public. This paved the way for huge leaps in the rate of literacy
in industrialised nations, and enabled the spread of information
during the
Second
Industrial Revolution.
However pulp paper contained acid, that eventually destroys the
paper from within. Earlier techniques for making paper used
limestone rollers, which neutralized the acid in the pulp. Books
printed between 1850 and 1950 are at risk; more recent books are
often printed on acid-free or
alkaline
paper. Libraries today have to consider
mass deacidification of their older
collections.
Stability of the climate is critical to the long-term preservation
of paper and book material. Good air circulation is important to
keep fluctuation in climate stable. The
HVAC
system should be up to date and functioning efficiently. Light is
detrimental to collections. Therefore, care should be given to the
collections by implementing light control. General housekeeping
issues can be addressed, including
pest
control. In addition to these helpful solutions, a library must
also make an effort to be prepared if a disaster occurs, one that
they cannot control. Time and effort should be given to create a
concise and effective disaster plan to counteract any damage
incurred through “acts of god” therefore a
emergency management plan should be in
place.
The proper care of books takes into account the possibility of
physical and chemical damage to the cover and text. Books are best
stored out of direct sunlight, in reduced lighting, at cool
temperatures, and at moderate humidity. They need the support of
surrounding volumes to maintain their shape, so it is desirable to
shelve them by size.
See also
Notes and references
- book - Definitions from Dictionary.com
- Northvegr - Holy Language Lexicon
- Dard Hunter.
Papermaking: History and Technique of an Ancient Craft New
ed. Dover Publications 1978, p. 12.
- Leila Avrin. Scribes, Script and Books, pp.
144–145.
- The Cambridge History of Early Christian Literature. Edd.
Frances Young, Lewis Ayres, Andrew Louth, Ron White. Cambridge
University Press 2004, pp. 8–9.
- Leila Avrin. Scribes, Script and Books, p. 173.
- Leila Avrin. Scribes, Script and Books, pp.
207–208.
- Theodore Maynard. Saint Benedict and
His Monks. Staples Press Ltd 1956, pp. 70–71.
- Martin D. Joachim. Historical Aspects of Cataloguing and
Classification. Haworth Press 2003, p. 452.
- Edith Diehl. Bookbinding: Its Background and
Technique. Dover Publications 1980, pp. 14–16.
- Bernhard Bischoff. Latin Palaeography, pp. 16–17.
- Paul Saenger. Space Between Words: The Origins of Silent
Reading. Stanford University Press 1997.
- Bernhard Bischoff. Latin Palaeography, pp. 42–43.
- Al-Hassani, Woodcock and Saoud, "1001 Inventions, Muslim
heritage in Our World", FSTC Publishing, 2006, reprinted 2007,
pp.218-219.
- Clapham, Michael, "Printing" in A History of
Technology, Vol 2. From the Renaissance to the Industrial
Revolution, edd. Charles Singer et al. (Oxford 1957),
p. 377. Cited from Elizabeth L. Eisenstein, The
Printing Press as an Agent of Change (Cambridge University,
1980).
- For a 9th century Carolingian bookmark see: For a 15th century
bookmark see Medeltidshandskrift 34, Lund University Library.
- Miriam A. Drake, Encyclopedia of Library and Information
Science (Marcel Dekker, 2003), "Public Libraries,
History".
- Miriam A. Drake, Encyclopedia of Library, "Public
Libraries, History".
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