A book is a
collection of paper, parchment or other material with text,
pictures, or both written on them, usually bound together
along one edge within covers. Each side of a sheet is called
a page and a single sheet within a book may be called a leaf.
A book is also a literary work or a main division of such
a work. A book produced in electronic format is known as an
e-book. In library and information science, a book is called
a monograph to distinguish it from serial periodicals such
as magazines, journals or newspapers.
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. A lover of books is usually referred to as a bibliophile,
a bibliophilist, or a philobiblist, or, more informally, a
bookworm. A book may be studied by students in the form of
a book report. It may also be covered by a professional writer
as a book review to introduce a new book. Some belong to a
book club.
book. The word book has come to have many meanings, e.g.,
any collection of sheets of paper, wood, or other material
sewn or bound together; a division of a written work (books
of the Bible, books of Caesar's Gallic War); and statements
of financial accounting (bookkeeping). The primary meaning
today is, however, a written work either in manuscript or
in printed form that is of substantial length.
Early Books
Early in the history of bookmaking the printed book was distinguished
in size by the number of times the original large sheet of
paper on which the type was printed had been folded, i.e.,
folio, quarto, octavo, and duodecimo. With the advent of machine-made
paper, these sizes were standardized. The standard octavo,
according to the American Library Association, is between
20 cm and 25 cm in height.
Books apparently did not come into existence until long after
writing, e.g., inscription, was widespread. Fragmentary early
papyri represent literature in ancient Egypt and may possibly
be considered as books, although it is customary to speak
of the Book of the Dead as the first of the Egyptian papyrus
books. The cuneiform tablets gathered into the great Assyrian
library of Assurbanipal represented an enormous collection
of works, but the book as we know it may be said to be derived
from the Egyptian writings on papyrus.
The vast literature of the Greeks, collected in the greatest
library of the ancient world, in Alexandria, was generally
written on large sheets of papyrus, which were glued together
and rolled up. The rolls varied greatly in size; many were
about 1 ft (30 cm) wide and about 30 ft (9 m) long when unrolled.
In the Hellenistic era large works were divided into tomes
[Gr.,=cutting] that were stored together in cylinders and
labeled.
The method of having the leaves held together in quires (24
or 25 sheets) in the fashion of the modern book seems not
to have originated until about the 2d cent. A.D. From at least
the early part of the 2d cent. B.C. the more permanent vellum
(a type of fine parchment first used in the Middle East) was
also used for writing books, and this grew to be very popular
in the Middle Ages when books were copied by monks in the
scriptoria of monasteries. In the scriptoria the art of illumination
flourished, making artistic masterpieces of many medieval
liturgical volumes.
|
