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A Brief History of the Book The
earliest books created by the Jews and the Greeks were scrolls. This is still
true of the scrolls of the five books of Moses found in all synagogues (Greek
for assembly) today. The current method of producing books fastened together
with separate sheets is called a codex, meaning wedge shaped in Latin. Writing
originated in Sumer, a country now called Iraq. These writings were achieved by
inserting a reed into clay. The purpose
was record keeping, beginning in the second millennium BCE (Before
the Current Era). The
Sumerians sharpened the stem of a reed and inserted it in clay, which is soft
and wet and allows writing. The first of these books were account books kept by
the king. Later, words were carved into wood by copying handwritten texts. It
was this method which was widely used until Gutenberg invented the first movable
metal type to be used in Europe, which allowed Gutenberg to print the Bible in
quantity. The word Bible was derived from the Lebanese town Byblos, which
furnished the Greeks with wide palm leaves. The Greeks dried these palm leaves
and wrote on them. When full, they rolled these palm leaves into a “biblos,”
which in English became Bible, in German Bibel, etc. Wax
tablets were used by Quintilian, the author of Institutio
Oratoria. The Romans called
circular books “volumes,” a word that applies to the Jewish Torah today. In
approximately 105 CE, the Chinese invented paper, which is made from wood. In
classical antiquity, paper was used by monks to write sacred books, including
illustrated handwritten Bibles. This is still true of the Jewish Torah (Five
Books of Moses), produced by handwriting. Johannes Gutenberg, Johann Fust,
and Peter Schöffer, three Germans, invented the printing press around 1440. The
printing press has undergone many changes over these six hundred years. Today
Americans are gradually leaving books in favor of reading texts on the computer. Undoubtedly, medieval handwritten,
illustrated books will be preserved in museums. However, the era of book writing
is gradually coming to an end, except for using electronic methods, which will
make handwriting obsolete and the printed book a rarity. As modern languages change, using
new words and new expressions, the 21st century will become the last
century in which the traditional book will be produced. Communication is rapidly
altering the expectations of younger students, so that the book will become as
peculiar as a typewriter, which children do not recognize and adults can
no longer use. Shalom
u'vracha. Dr. Gerhard Falk is the author of numerous publications, including The American Jewish Community in the 20th and 21st Century (2021). |
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