The Evolution of Books - Essay Example

February The Evolution of the Printed Book: The Significance of Physical Changes in Book Production up to 1600 Like life on earth, the evolutionof books involved development of a spine! It represents visible, tactile and other practical changes in the presentation of printed matter that has gradually given civilization the book. Here, an attempt will be made to track those changes, examine them, and determine their importance and effect on the reader. “Books are important vehicles for ideas that often challenge established norms and authorities.” (Finkelstein & McCleery 2005). Most readers can agree with this definition, but it does not differentiate between the words book and text. They are not the same: texts are present in a large number of media such as magazines, websites, journals, comics, newspapers, pamphlets, brochures, prospectuses, and also books - but they cannot all be called books. As Charles Darwin said: “All magpies are birds, but not all birds are magpies.” No one could disagree with him: all books are texts, but not all texts are books. When Darwin was writing his controversial book in 1859, the concept of that vehicle for texts had existed for a long time (Finkelstein & McCleery 2005). Since large and lavish manuscript and book collections were amassed by church, state and wealthy patrons over centuries, many dating from the Renaissance period, books have had a hold on people, both as objects of aesthetic beauty and carriers of human knowledge (Finkelstein & McCleery 2008). Books fulfill a task: storing knowledge; but also have intrinsic importance and interest, and can be works of beautiful art, or even real antiques (Darnton 2009). Desire to create lasting records led to different civilizations finding natural surfaces for written symbols. Parish and harvest records were kept on scrolls of papyrus, then sheets of parchment sewn together with strings: ‘sheaves’ that led to better organization (Eisenstein 2005). Wear and tear drove monks - in charge of record keeping, sheet music for choral singing to praise God, and biblical texts and sermons - to reinforce the ‘covers’. Collections of this nature were often called ‘codexes’. The codex gradually replaced the scroll between the 2nd and 4th centuries AD. It was the first prototype, in shape, of a books with pages (Eisenstein 2005). Modern readers are familiar with the beauty of medieval illuminated manuscripts: parchment sheets sewn into a codex, whose pages bore writing. Illumination is decoration of letters with gold and other colors, to signify beginnings of sections of text. These first letters got bigger and bigger until one took up a whole page. Several of these books survive, usually in cathedral museums. They are enormous, each page much larger than today’s A3 sheet. Not very practical, and so costly to produce only wealthy people could read them, they nevertheless formed the basis of the modern book, and for a long time were used alongside printed versions. They were painstakingly handwritten: monks spent their whole lives copying from originals. Then they made copies from copies. Small versions were written out for use by wealthy noblemen: bibles were the most in demand, and were extremely expensive (Eisenstein 2005). Woodblocks were used for some time to make impressions of playing and tarot cards, and then whole pages of simple text. The letters were carved out (back to front) on a flat block of wood, which was used much like a rubber-stamp is used today. Results were not very satisfactory: they left a lot of room for improvement and ingenuity. So the real revolution came when Johannes Gutenberg invented a system for printing with movable type (Febvre & Martin 1976): many little blocks, one for each symbol, allowing the typesetter to construct a page of sentences from individual letters. The whole page was used in a screw-based press, like that used for squeezing grapes and pressing olives. After 1440, when Gutenberg devised his metal type and oil-based inks, which quickly took on, revolutionizing reading and creating the concept we call literacy, it was realized ‘the printed book was ... more than a triumph of technical ingenuity, but was also one of the most potent agents at the disposal of western civilization in bringing together scattered ideas of representative thinkers.’ (Febvre & Martin 1976). The book is really a force in history, with its own students: literary scholars, sociologists, historians and librarians, interested in discovering general patterns of book production and consumption over long periods of time (Darnton 2009) The next two hundred years or so saw a rapid flush of evolutionary and revolutionary changes that took the book from strength to strength. The days of personally ordered books, written one by one, copied from an original, were gone forever. The printing press caused an upheaval in the way people viewed books. Ease of production lowered the price considerably. When the price of a product goes down, it can be reached by more people: suddenly, reading was not confined to monks and doctors any more: alphabetizing of the world started in earnest, changing how records were kept, the way people entertained themselves, and how their children were taught (McKenzie 2002). Use of paper instead of parchment brought about a longer-lasting support. Paper - invented by the Chinese - could be manufactured to obtain a smoother surface, for a good imprint of the type. It was made thinner, for lighter, more portable books. Methods of folding and sewing - or binding - books with glue and thread were invented, and in many towns in Europe, shops opened that employed craftsmen to cut paper, print pages, collate them correctly, fold them, bind them, and place pages between a hard cover protected with fabric or leather. It proved to be a long-lasting product. It turned out to be a viable industry. Popularity of the product created employment, education of the masses (Febvre & Martin 1976). and a new kind of entertainment. Literary experiences of ordinary readers and general availability of books changed the way a number of disciplines worked. Education started to depend on the book as a primary source of information. The law and the church needed to keep records and tenets in book form. The term to ‘look up’ and ‘to research’ would not mean the same without books: these terms were invented for use with books. Society started valuing the ability of people to read. In a matter of decades, it became indispensible. Literacy forced education-based employment, and so, sociological change (McKenzie 2002). The primitive Gutenberg press was good enough for scientists to communicate their findings to one another (Darnton 2009). This made dissemination of ideas more rapid, generating more debate, scandal, controversy and discussion. Where there is controversy, there is change: politicians, monarchs and popes soon realized how powerful the book was. Rapid communication of ideas brought communities out of the dark and gave them might. Throughout history, since inception of printing, there have been efforts by powerful people to try to stamp out the book (Darnton 2009). The number of ‘book burnings’ in history date back further than the famous ones in Syria during the crusades. After the advent of printing, they became more of a serious blaze. There were many more to burn, if a dictator or king was angry. The more the book was feared and destroyed , the more people realized its power (McKenzie 2002). Another change that printing brought because of ease of production and portability was the birth of the ‘author’. People saw an avenue to profit: putting their ideas into print (Eisenstein 2005). Before this, authorship was not that important, and manuscripts were often unsigned: it was the content that was valuable, not who wrote it. Increasing importance of the author meant a paradigm shift in how people viewed ideas, concepts, notions and theories. It even altered the way people saw fables, stories and tales. Aesop reached the popularity of the Evangelists. People now made judgments related to and depending on who wrote what they read. This was possibly one of the most fundamental changes printing brought to the world (Eisenstein 2005). Certain authors were sought-after and became celebrities. Cultivation of the author brought about higher sales and the reach of books out of the sphere of the very rich. This ‘democratizing’ of literature meant that within 60 years after invention of the printing press, the entire classical canon - that is, books generally understood to be important, what we call ‘must-reads’ today - were reprinted and widely spread throughout Europe (Eisenstein, 2005). The difference between printer and publisher were inexistent until much later. Printing was a craft, for highly skilled people considered equal to artists in the community. Authors addressed themselves directly to these artists, who would study manuscripts and determine the suitability and practical aspects of turning them into books. For a very long time, technology and art of book making were bound up in one person and his ‘shop’ of artisans. His decision to publish had the potential to change society, education, politics, circulating ideas and more: printers were important and powerful people. In places like Lyons, Flanders and later London, they were equal to politicians in ability to shift public perception (McKenzie 2002). Printed books pass through more or less the same life-cycle, and a number of disciplines developed that concern the book (Darnton 2009). This cycle evolved to form a chain taking information and entertainment from the author (or their agent) to the publisher, the printer, the shipper, and the bookseller, to the reader. Since the book developed the spine, it has reached scales of mass production to cater to the demand its popularity has generated (McKenzie 2002). In the process, it has either created or complemented other industries. From it, radio and screen adaptations followed, starting a trend. Not only that: even up to 1600, printing has forced standardization of a number of things, starting with its influence on spelling and grammar which, prior to wide dissemination of printed books, were inconsistent. How a book is set out and designed was largely started by illuminated manuscripts: margins, pages, and titles were born then, but page numbers, indexes, font sizes, different typefaces, footnotes and acknowledgments pages all came about after the invention of printing (Febvre & Martin 1976). In summary: many things taken for granted today evolved from the invention of printing. The most important, in this student’s view, is wide dissemination of ideas through affordability and portability (Finkelstein & McCleery 2008). This effected politics. In addition, standardization of language has meant uniform education in matters of spelling and grammar across whole nations. Awareness of the power of language, and the concept of correctness in presentation and context, also brought about careful scholarship in law and commerce (Eisenstein 2005). Printing has made many other things change, or become easier to accomplish. To really understand how it has changed the world, a moment taken to reckon what things would be like without printed books would persuade anyone of how essential they are. Sources cited Eisenstein, Elizabeth (2005) The Printing Revolution in Early Modern Europe Cambridge University Press Febvre, Lucien and Martin, Henri-Jean (1976) The Coming of the Book: The Impact of Printing, 1450-1800 Verso Finkelstein, David and McCleery, Alistair (2005) An Introduction to Book History Routledge Darnton, Robert (2009) What is the History of Books? (The Case for Books) Public Affairs McKenzie, D. F. (2002) The Book as an Expressive Form in McKenzie, Bibliography and the Sociology of Texts, 1-21 Firestone Z1001.M34 Read More

Not very practical, and so costly to produce only wealthy people could read them, they nevertheless formed the basis of the modern book, and for a long time were used alongside printed versions. They were painstakingly handwritten: monks spent their whole lives copying from originals. Then they made copies from copies. Small versions were written out for use by wealthy noblemen: bibles were the most in demand, and were extremely expensive (Eisenstein 2005). Woodblocks were used for some time to make impressions of playing and tarot cards, and then whole pages of simple text.

The letters were carved out (back to front) on a flat block of wood, which was used much like a rubber-stamp is used today. Results were not very satisfactory: they left a lot of room for improvement and ingenuity. So the real revolution came when Johannes Gutenberg invented a system for printing with movable type (Febvre & Martin 1976): many little blocks, one for each symbol, allowing the typesetter to construct a page of sentences from individual letters. The whole page was used in a screw-based press, like that used for squeezing grapes and pressing olives.

After 1440, when Gutenberg devised his metal type and oil-based inks, which quickly took on, revolutionizing reading and creating the concept we call literacy, it was realized ‘the printed book was . more than a triumph of technical ingenuity, but was also one of the most potent agents at the disposal of western civilization in bringing together scattered ideas of representative thinkers.’ (Febvre & Martin 1976). The book is really a force in history, with its own students: literary scholars, sociologists, historians and librarians, interested in discovering general patterns of book production and consumption over long periods of time (Darnton 2009) The next two hundred years or so saw a rapid flush of evolutionary and revolutionary changes that took the book from strength to strength.

The days of personally ordered books, written one by one, copied from an original, were gone forever. The printing press caused an upheaval in the way people viewed books. Ease of production lowered the price considerably. When the price of a product goes down, it can be reached by more people: suddenly, reading was not confined to monks and doctors any more: alphabetizing of the world started in earnest, changing how records were kept, the way people entertained themselves, and how their children were taught (McKenzie 2002).

Use of paper instead of parchment brought about a longer-lasting support. Paper - invented by the Chinese - could be manufactured to obtain a smoother surface, for a good imprint of the type. It was made thinner, for lighter, more portable books. Methods of folding and sewing - or binding - books with glue and thread were invented, and in many towns in Europe, shops opened that employed craftsmen to cut paper, print pages, collate them correctly, fold them, bind them, and place pages between a hard cover protected with fabric or leather.

It proved to be a long-lasting product. It turned out to be a viable industry. Popularity of the product created employment, education of the masses (Febvre & Martin 1976). and a new kind of entertainment. Literary experiences of ordinary readers and general availability of books changed the way a number of disciplines worked. Education started to depend on the book as a primary source of information. The law and the church needed to keep records and tenets in book form. The term to ‘look up’ and ‘to research’ would not mean the same without books: these terms were invented for use with books.

Society started valuing the ability of people to read. In a matter of decades, it became indispensible. Literacy forced education-based employment, and so, sociological change (McKenzie 2002). The primitive Gutenberg press was good enough for scientists to communicate their findings to one another (Darnton 2009). This made dissemination of ideas more rapid, generating more debate, scandal, controversy and discussion.

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