A first evidence of the use of papyrus in codex form comes from the Ptolemaic period in Egypt, as a find at the University of Graz shows. Two ancient polyptychs, a pentaptych and octoptych excavated at Herculaneum, used a unique connecting system that presages later sewing on of thongs or cords. The Romans used precursors made of reusable wax-covered tablets of wood for taking notes and other informal writings. History Reproduction Roman-style wax tablet, from which the codex evolved. The codex provided considerable advantages over other book formats, primarily its compactness, sturdiness, economic use of materials by using both sides ( recto and verso), and ease of reference (a codex accommodates random access, as opposed to a scroll, which uses sequential access). The study of ancient documents in general is called paleography. The scholarly study of these manuscripts is sometimes called codicology. Technically, even modern notebooks and paperbacks are codices, but publishers and scholars reserve the term for manuscript (hand-written) books produced from Late antiquity until the Middle Ages. In fact, any combination of codices and scrolls with papyrus and parchment is technically feasible and common in the historical record. The change from rolls to codices roughly coincides with the transition from papyrus to parchment as the preferred writing material, but the two developments are unconnected. By the sixth century, the scroll had almost vanished as a medium for literature. In Egypt, by the fifth century, the codex outnumbered the scroll by ten to one based on surviving examples. The codex began to replace the scroll almost as soon as it was invented. The word codex comes from the Latin word caudex, meaning "trunk of a tree", "block of wood" or "book". Etymology and origins The scroll was the document form which was replaced by the codex during the late Roman Empire. First described in the 1st century of the Common Era, when the Roman poet Martial praised its convenient use, the codex achieved numerical parity with the scroll around 300 CE, and had completely replaced it throughout what was by then a Christianized Greco-Roman world by the 6th century. The spread of the codex is often associated with the rise of Christianity, which early on adopted the format for the Bible. The codex transformed the shape of the book itself, and offered a form that has lasted ever since. The gradual replacement of the scroll by the codex has been called the most important advance in book making before the invention of the printing press. The Ancient Romans developed the form from wax tablets.
#Old manuscripts vellum skin#
Some codices are continuously folded like a concertina, in particular the Maya codices and Aztec codices, which are actually long sheets of paper or animal skin folded into pages. At least in the Western world, the main alternative to the paged codex format for a long document was the continuous scroll, which was the dominant form of document in the ancient world. Elaborate historical bindings are called treasure bindings. Modern books are divided into paperback (or softback) and those bound with stiff boards, called hardbacks. A codex, much like the modern book, is bound by stacking the pages and securing one set of edges by a variety of methods over the centuries, yet in a form analogous to modern bookbinding. The term codex is often used for ancient manuscript books, with handwritten contents. Instead of being composed of sheets of paper, it used sheets of vellum, papyrus, or other materials.
The codex (plural codices / ˈ k oʊ d ɪ s iː z/) was the historical ancestor of the modern book. For other uses, see Codex (disambiguation).
This article is about ancient and medieval books.
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