The Book as Artefact
Diringer’s account in The Book Before Printing (1982) illustrates the complexity of culture and the extent of manuscript production in the late centuries of the first millennium, and the early centuries of the second millennium AD. Although the history of the book can be extended back to include writing on clay tablets and stories inscripted on cave walls (Diringer, 1982) this dissertation will begin at the point of papyrus manuscripts.
1.3.1.1. Writing Materials
“As Mesopotamia may be considered the cradle of writing, so may Egypt be considered the cradle of ‘the book’” (Diringer, 1982, p. 115). According to Diringer, the practice of writing in Egypt extends back to the 13th century BC Papyrus was the chief writing material of the Egyptians. Alexandrian papyrus was renowned throughout the Graeco-Roman world. This material was predominantly used in rolls, several of which were over 100 feet long (Diringer, 1982, p. 129). The important point to glean from the intricate history and detailed scholarship of papyrus rolls or “books” is that “book production” was extensive, elaborate, and within certain classes of people across a multitude of interactive communities and cultures, it was widespread at dates as early as 1164 BC – the date of Papyrus Harris 1 detailing the accomplishments of Ramses 111. The Wilbour Papyrus is another example, 35 feet in length, “it consists of two texts, one written in 102 columns containing 4500 lines, the other written on the verso in twenty-five broad pages, contains 723 lines.” Greek literary rolls were usually less than 35 feet which was a suitable book length for “one of the gospels or two or three books of the Iliad or two books of Plato’s Republic.” Single papyrus sheets were also used for short writings (Diringer, 1982, p. 130).
Although there is evidence that the Egyptians were using glue to fasten sheets of papyrus together, the Greeks and Romans did experiment with string before beginning to use a binder’s paste. Early glutinatores were responsible for cutting margins of the “book”, gluing sheets, and polishing the edges and exterior of the roll. A label of papyrus or vellum was attached with a “title” affixed. The study of Graeco-Roman papyrology focuses on the Hellenic period in Egypt from 322 BC and ending with the Arab conquest in 641 AD
During this period the development of the codex was evident. Rolls were cumbersome and so literary works were transcribed onto pugillares (wood-tablet books). These were later replaced by leaves of papyrus fastened together. Papyrus codices were fragile, and therefore, not popular. They were replaced by vellum and parchment, although the transition from the use of one writing material to another was not linear. From the third to the sixth centuries AD all early forms of book production were in use – papyrus roll, papyrus codex, vellum codex, and less often parchment roll (Diringer, 1982, p. 165).
Parchment is leather manufactured to create a finer writing material. The earliest examples were found in 1909 in Persian Kurdistan and can be dated to 88 BC This find, in a cave in the mountain Kuh-i-Salan, near Avroman, uncovered a hermetically sealed stone jar containing millet seeds and three parchment documents, one in Pahlavi, and two in Greek (Diringer, 1982, p.190). Other evidence of this early use of parchment in Persia can be found in the Diodorus Siculus (Bibl. Hist. 11, xxxii, 4) which mentions Ctesias, the Greek historian of Persia deriving his knowledge of early Persian history from the Persian royal chronicles or “royal leathers” (Diringer, 1982, p. 189).
The history of the book before printing is vast, but the spheres of interrelatedness were fluid. The Greek world under Alexander extended from Persia to Egypt. The establishment of the library at Alexandria meant the arts of translation, record keeping, preparing writing materials, and techniques for writing were shared from Persia to the Mediterranean. The development of finer writing materials introduced a new era of book production.
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