19 Dec 2023

The Book Through Time From Antiquity To The Present

The book is the expression of human thought transmitted through a writing system made on a durable and transportable material. The book has its antecedents in what we call the oral or prehistoric book, which consisted of the transmission of cosmogonies, religious norms, legal codes, and poetry.

The history of the book is due to a series of technological innovations that have allowed, over the centuries, to improve the quality of conservation of texts and access to information, also improving management and production costs.

The book in Antiquity
In the Neolithic, administrative and economic needs were the main cause of the origin and development of writing. At first the symbols or drawings were mere pictograms, then they began to represent abstract ideas or actions and the last step was the appearance of the phonogram, which led to the letters of the alphabet.

The first people to use the book as a means of dissemination was the Sumerian and they did so with tablets, which served as support for a type of writing known as cuneiform (this writing model lasted more than 2000 years and its decipherment was thanks to the contributions of the British Sir Henry C. Rawlinson< /span>, in the middle of the 19th century).

Egypt was the first civilization to use ink and papyrus, which was the most used medium in manuscripts (its use spread from the 4th century BC, during the time of Alexander the Great). Papyrus was a very expensive material and that is why it was reused, becoming known as palimpsest. The scribes used vegetable inks (black and red) and this made it possible for the Egyptians to illustrate in books (the Egyptian book was the first illustrated book in our history).

China's great legacy was the invention of paper, in the year AD. C., at the hands of T'sai Lun. In Syria, Phoenicia and Palestine, in the 2nd millennium BC, a new writing system appeared, the consonant alphabet (aliphate). Currently, the most used alphabets in the world derive from Phoenician and Aramaic.

In Greece, the book acquired its true dimension, due to the use of alphabetic writing, the establishment of democracy and the extension of education. The main writing medium was the papyrus roll (introduced in the 7th century BC), leather parchment appeared already in the Hellenistic era of sheep and goat. In classical Greece, genres such as theater and disciplines such as history, rhetoric or philosophy, among others, were developed, which marked the birth of the book trade.

The book in Rome was an extension of the Greek, but Rome contributed great innovations: its own language, Latin; an alphabet of its own; the handwriting evolved from uppercase to lowercase cursive; and later the uncial letter and the stenographic writing appeared. The writing materials were the same as in Greece, but the scroll was displaced to give way to the modern book or codex. At this time there were new contents such as satire, law, oratory, essays and didactics.

The book in the Middle Ages (5th century – 15th century)
The Early Middle Ages lasted until the end of the 12th century, a stage in which book production and culture itself took refuge in convents. Monasticism arose in the East, where Christian or Byzantine communities founded monasteries in which books were kept and Greek culture was disseminated. In the monasteries there was a scriptotium, where monks worked copying or translating texts. The material used was the parchment that they themselves prepared with the skin of the animals they raised in the same monastery. A variant of parchment was velvet, which was obtained from the skin of an animal killed at birth. The isolation of monastic life determined the birth of national writings: in Spain the Visigothic writing was used, in France the Merovingian, in Italy the Italian writing and the insular writing in the British Isles (the best of the 7th and 8th centuries). Starting in the 8th century, the Caroline lowercase letter became widespread, simpler and clearer and fundamental for the history of the book.

The historical and political context of the Early Middle Ages, that is, the Reconquista, favored the existence of several cultures in Spain: the Visigoth, where the most notable figure was the of San Isidoro of Seville who, with his work Etymologies, brought together all the knowledge of his time, also from this time is the codex of the Morales, by San Gregorio, written in Visigothic script and preserved in the National Library of Spain; the Mozarabic, whose main legacy was the Beatos, which was the form abbreviated from calling the comments on the copies of the manuscript codices of the Book of the Apocalypse of Saint John, which Beato de Liébana made in the year 776; and Muslim culture, which was characterized by the abundance of books, especially the Quran. One of the great contributions of the Arabs to the book was the diffusion of paper, which around the year 1100 reached Europe through Spain (the oldest Christian book written on paper is the Missal de Silos preserved in the Monastery of Santo Domingo de Silos, belonging to this era).

In the Late Middle Ages, with the improvement of the economic situation and the reestablishment of trade, cultural activity moved from the isolation of the monastery to the cosmopolitanism of the city. And the two institutions par excellence of this time were the cathedral and the university. In the 13th century the first universities arose (that of Bologna is the oldest in the world and in Spain that of Palencia - 1212-). Books became an instrument of work and consultation and this led to their demand, thus rebirthing commerce and the book industry. The great demand for books produced the secularization of culture and the use of paper became widespread. The book changed its physical characteristics: the writing used in Europe was called gothic or angular; The texts were divided into two columns and segmented into chapters; New scores appeared such as the calderón (used from point to aside); and we must highlight the illustrations, with decorative bands that lasted until after the printing press.

The book in the Modern Age
At the end of the Middle Ages, the world of work evolved and the increase in population in the cities gave rise to a new social class, the bourgeoisie; Trade increased commercial activity and the use of currency became necessary. In the transition between the end of the Middle Ages and the beginning of the Modern Age, a faster and more efficient machine appeared for printing texts and publications, the printing press, by Johannes Gutenberg. The woodcut is the antecedent of the printing press, which was slow and prevented the making of many copies of books, Furthermore, the wood deteriorated. For these reasons we wanted to obtain a moldable metal alloy.

After Germany, the first European country to have a printing press was Italy, making Venice the first typographic center whose most important printer was Aldo Manucio. In France, printing was introduced in  1470 and the three most important typographic centers were Paris, Lyon and Ronen. In the Netherlands, Leuven and Bruges in 1473 and Antwerp, in 1481, had their first printing press. In Spain, the printing press was introduced late, its beginnings are doubtful, but currently the Sinodal de Aguilafuente, an incunabulum preserved in the Segovia cathedral. During the 15th century, twenty-six Spanish cities had a printing press, which produced around a thousand editions.

The incunabula
The word incunabulum comes from the Latin, incunabulum and means in the cradle. Printed books, made in a country, from the moment of the appearance of the printing press in that country until the year 1500, inclusive, are considered incunabula.

The characteristics of the first incunabula or protoincunabula were very similar to those of the manuscript codices, since the intention was to imitate the manuscript book as best as possible. The writing was Gothic and Roman; They lacked a cover (which appeared for the first time in 1476 in the Calendarium Regiomontanus) and began the text with the words Hic incipit or Incipit; They had a large format; and the pages were not paginated. Many of these incunabula were illustrated by hand, although soon the woodcut system began to be used for printing the incunabula. Albrecht Pfister was the first .

The book in the 16th century
The 16th century marked the definitive consolidation of the printing press in Europe and it reached America. Book production became cheaper, reading increased and the book became modern. These changes occurred due to the expansion of the book trade, the increase in production, the diversification of the bibliographic offer, humanism (favoring the reading of classical authors), and the Reformation and Counter-Reformation that used the printing press as a medium. dissemination of ideas. At first, the book continued with the external characteristics of the incunabula, but it evolved into a book with a formal appearance and a social purpose.

In Spain, all books had to have a cover (in which the title of the work, the name of the author, the printing privilege, etc.) were reported and little by little, other elements were born, such as the author's poems and the dedication. The most important printing centers were in the cities that had universities, such as, for example, Alcalá de Henares, where Arnao Guillén de Brocar was established, who initiated and completed the Complutense polyglot Bible at the request of Cardinal Cisneros.

The book in the 17th century
Europe lived a time of continuous conflicts and a deep economic crisis arose, which had an impact on the book. The book was the means of dissemination of ideas, sometimes persecuted (the first political censorships appeared); their trade decreased; a black market for them appeared; and publishing production and imports were taxed very high.

The book at this time was a poorly maintained book, with poor quality of inks and paper; not very resistant covers and abundance of typos; They included long titles, author names, printing mark, indexes, summaries, colophon, dedications, etc.

In this century a type of publications emerged that were the germ of what are today periodicals. These publications were born to serve an audience that only knew how to read in vernacular languages ​​(Leipziger Zeitung, in Germany or Le Journal des Sçavants in France, for example).

The book in the 18th century
The 18th century is the so-called Age of Enlightenment and at this time a mentality prevailed that made science and reason unquestionable truths. A secular rationalist movement spread throughout Europe that sought knowledge, was interested in science and provided a new vision of the world: the enlightenment. New ideas were spread through gatherings that took place in Academies or Societies of Friends.

Technical improvements were achieved in terms of printing and typography: the books that were printed were better and more legible, the inks of better quality and the paper with a better finish. A new system for measuring type was introduced, the Didot point (introduced by a member of the Didot family of printers) was a ruler for establishing the measurement of the typographic bodies (current word processors have inherited it).

In Spain there were a series of positive changes due to the protection and encouragement of the typographic arts given by Charles III, for example, the Royal Decree of 1763 said that printers and letter foundries were exempt from military service.

The book in the 19th century
The 19th century assimilated drastic changes that led to modern thinking and the emergence of industrial society. Demographic expansion and the expansion of compulsory education, in many European countries, increased the number of readers and literate people.

This century is the century of the splendor of the periodical press, which had a decisive role in the love of reading and the consolidation of his habit. Furthermore, the press was the engine that drove the technological changes of the industrial printing press. We moved from artisanal methods to mechanized systems: about paper, wood pulp began to be used and continuous paper appeared; the rotary was invented; Regarding composition, the rotary press needed another fundamental invention, the stereotype; and in illustration, various procedures were used with which highly illustrated books could be made that encouraged their purchase and reading.

The book in the 20th century

The last century was the century of computing and the Internet and this contributed to the publishing industry experiencing great changes, especially from the second half of the century. The book stopped having its traditional format to adopt new forms. Improvements in production allowed for lower costs and widespread access, and new formats and supports brought about major changes in reading habits.

The book underwent a series of social changes: the generalization of literacy, education and demographic growth motivated the increase in reading, favored in developed countries by education policies and in underdeveloped ones by international organizations such as the UNESCO. There were also technical and mechanical advances that were displaced by electronics, such as writing, illustration, prepress, printing or binding. And new media emerged in the last stage of the century: first, microforms (microfilm and microfiche) came to light; magnetic media, such as cassette or video tapes; and finally the optical media (CD, CD-ROM, DVD, etc.); but the real achievement came with the emergence of the internet and online publications. New forms of publishing appeared, this century saw the birth of the electronic book or eBook, it appeared in the 90s and meant a revolution comparable to that of the printed book versus the manuscript. It was a milestone in the publishing industry, since it incorporated three characteristics into the book:  hypertextuality, multimedia and interactivity. In addition, new forms of marketing emerged, it was the century of marketing and advertising, the pocket book appeared (whose origin is in England); the book club, mail order sales, installment sales, installment sales and internet sales.

The book today
The electronic book is one of the great advances in technology, the digitization of books and their transition from paper to the screen has course the possibility of creating huge libraries without the need for large spaces or the option of offering thousands of free books without having to physically acquire them (we must review the Project Gutenberg).

Although there is confusion between electronic book and electronic book reader, they are not the same. eReader is the reading device designed to read electronic books, as well as the works themselves or reading formats; and on the other hand, an eBook is the electronic publication of a book. Today, the most important eReaders on the market are Kindle, Kobo, Sony PRS and Papyre.

The book, reading and the publishing industry are experiencing changes motivated by technological progress. The contents have been detached from the support and the publishing industry has needed to transform its logistical structure, based until recently on physical distribution. And now, digital printing and virtual bookstores cover new needs.