Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume III.djvu/80

BOOK with cuneiform characters, sometimes so mi- nute as to be almost illegible without a magnify- ing glass; they had been impressed upon the moist clay, which was afterward baked. So numerous were they that the floors of two rooms were covered a foot deep with them. They had been originally paged and placed in cases. In the destruction of the palace they were broken ; but there were four copies of each, so that what is wanting in one is often supplied by another. This library is now in the British museum. The antiquary Montfaucon in 1699 purchased at Rome a leaden book of six thin leaves, about 4 inches long by 3 wide, with hinges and clasps of the same material ; it contained Egyptian Gnostic figures, and other unintelligible writing. Among the Calmuck Tartars was found a collection of books that were long and narrow, the leaves very thick and made of bark covered with varnish, the ink being white on a black ground. M. Santander Ancient Books and Writing Implements. possessed a beautiful Hebrew Pentateuch, writ- ten on 57 skins of leather, sewed together with threads or strips of the same material ; it form- ed a roll 113 French feet in length. The shape of wooden and metal books was square, but when more convenient material, such as parch- ment and papyrus, was introduced, the cylin- drical form was adopted. The sheets, fastened together at the edges, were attached to a staff, round which they were rolled; whence our word volume, from volvere, to roll. At each end of the staff was a boss by which it could be turned, and the volume was read by unrolling the scroll so as to expose successively its several sheets. The title was written generally in red, on fine vellum, and pasted on the outside. Scrolls were again superseded by square books. Modifications in form accompanied the various changes made in material, until the shape and general proportions which now prevail were adopted. The value of books, depending not only upon beauty of chirography, accuracy of transcription, and elaborateness of ornamenta- tion, but upon the favor in which particular authors happened to be held, seems to have gone to each extreme; instances of extraor- dinary cheapness standing side by side with others of almost incredible dearness. Accord- ing to Bockh, in Athens, " a small book (ypap.- /taTidiov) for the purpose of recording a contract, that is, a small, commonly wooden diptychon, consisting of two wax tablets, was estimated by Demosthenes at two chalci (one quarter of an obolus, less than one cent). Wooden tablets (aavtief), on which accounts were written, cost, Olymp. 93, 2 (B. C. 407), a drachma (about 18 cents) apiece. These must have been pretty large and well made. Two pieces of papyrus for copying an account cost at the same time two dr. four ob. (45'6 cents). Paper appears from this to have been very dear, al- though written books were cheap since the books of Anaxagoras, even when dear, were to be had for a drach- ma ; or else the pa- per upon which public accounts were writ- ten was uncommonly good." It is also stated that Plato, who was not rich, bought three books of Philolaus the Pythagorean for 10,000 denarii (about $1,600); and it is further said that Aristotle paid three Attic talents (nearly $3,000) for a few books which had belonged to the phi- losopher Speusippus. But these apparent contradictions may be easily reconciled by a consideration of the probable conditions that occasionally existed ; the number of certain works reducing them to the value of the tran- scriber's labor, or less, when supply exceeded demand, while the rarity of others gave a practi- cal monopoly to their possessors. At Rome the manufacture of books, which under the early emperors had been constantly increasing, dimin- ished during the troubles of the empire, and upon its fall was for a long time entirely ex- tinguished ; to revive again after many years, but under greatly altered circumstances. In the dark ages the material for writing became scarce. The supply of papyrus from Egypt failed, and paper had not been introduced from the East. Parchment was almost the only ac- cessible material, and for this the demand far exceeded the supply. Hence arose the prac- tice of erasing the original writing from the parchment so that it could be used again. The erasure was usually made by rubbing with pumice stone ; but as the coloring matter of the ink penetrated a little into the texture of the