a writing composed on some point of knowledge by a person
intelligent therein, for the instruction or amusement of the reader. The
word is formed from the Gothic _boka_, or Saxon _boc_, which comes from
the Northern _buech_, of _buechaus_, a beech or service tree, on the
bark of which our ancestors used to write. Book is distinguished from
pamphlet, or single paper, by its greater length; and from tome or
volume, by its containing the whole writing on the subject. Isidore
makes this distinction between _liber_ and _codex_; that the former
denotes a single book, the latter a collection of several; though,
according to Scipio Maffei, _codex_ signifies a book in the square form;
_liber_, a book in the roll form. The primary distinction between
_liber_ and _codex_ seems to have been derived, as Dr. Heylin has
observed, from the different materials used for writing, among the
ancients: from the innerside of the bark of a tree, used for this
purpose, and called in Latin _liber_, the name of _liber_ applied to a
book was deduced; and from that tablet, formed from the main body of a
tree, called _caudex_, was derived the appellation of _codex_.
2. Several sorts of materials were formerly used in making books: stone
and wood were the first materials employed to engrave such things upon
as men were desirous of having transmitted to posterity. Porphyry makes
mention of some pillars preserved in Crete, on which the ceremonies
observed by the Corybantes in their sacrifices were recorded. The works
of Hesiod were originally written on tables of lead, and deposited in
the temple of the Muses in Bœotia. The laws of Jehovah were written
on tables of stone, and those of Solon on wooden planks. Tables of wood
and ivory were common among the ancients: those of wood, were very
frequently covered with wax, that persons might write on them with more
ease, or blot out what they had written. And the instrument used to
write with was a piece of iron, called a _style_; and hence the word
“style” came to be taken for the composition of the writing. The leaves
of the palm-tree were afterward used instead of wooden planks, and the
finest and thinnest part of the bark of such trees as the lime, ash,
maple, and elm; and especially the _tilio_, or _phillyrea_, and Egyptian
_papyrus_. Hence came the word _liber_, (a book,) which signifies the
inner bark of the trees. And as these barks were rolled up in order to
be removed with greater ease, each roll was called _volumen_, a volume;
a name afterward given to the like rolls of paper or parchment. From the
Egyptian papyrus the word _paper_ is derived. After this, leather was
introduced, especially the skins of goats and sheep. For the king of
Pergamus, in collecting his library, was led to the invention of
parchment made of those skins. The ancients likewise wrote upon linen.
Pliny says, the Parthians, even in his time, wrote upon their clothes;
and Livy speaks of certain books made of linen, _lintei libri_, upon
which the names of magistrates, and the history of the Roman
commonwealth, were written, and preserved in the temple of the goddess
Moneta.
3. The materials generally used by the ancients for their books, were
liable to be easily destroyed by the damp, when hidden in the earth; and
in times of war, devastation, and rapacity, it was necessary to bury in
the earth whatever they wished to preserve from the attacks of fraud and
violence. With this view, Jeremiah ordered the writings, which he
delivered to Baruch, to be put in an earthen vessel, Jer. xxxii. In the
same manner the ancient Egyptians made use of earthen urns, or pots of a
proper shape, for containing whatever they wanted to inter in the earth,
and which, without such care, would have been soon destroyed. We need
not wonder then, that the Prophet Jeremiah should think it necessary to
inclose those writings in an earthen pot, which were to be buried in
Judea, in some place where they might be found without much difficulty
on the return of the Jews from captivity. Accordingly two different
writings, or small rolls of writing, called books in the original
Hebrew, were designed to be inclosed in such an earthen vessel; but
commentators have been much embarrassed in giving any probable account
of the necessity of two writings, one sealed, the other open; or, as the
passage has been commonly understood, the one _sealed up_, the other
left _open_ for any one to read; more especially, as both were to be
alike buried in the earth and concealed from every eye, and both were to
be examined at the return from the captivity. But the word translated
_open_, in reference to the evidence, or book which was open, (1 Sam.
iii, 7, 21; Dan. ii, 19, 30; x, 1,) signifies the revealing of future
events to the minds of men by a divine agency; and it is particularly
used in the book of Esther, viii, 13, to express a book’s making known
the decree of an earthly king. Consequently the _open book_ of Jeremiah
seems to signify, not its being then lying open or unrolled before them,
while the other was sealed up; but the book that had revealed the will
of God, to bring back Israel into their own country, and to cause buying
and selling of houses and lands again to take place among them. This was
a _book of prophecy_, opening and revealing the future return of Israel,
and the other little book, which was ordered to be buried along with it,
was the purchase deed.
4. By adverting to the different modes of writing in eastern countries,
we obtain a satisfactory interpretation of a passage in the book of Job,
xix, 23, 24, and a distinct view of the beautiful gradation which is
lost in our translation: “O that my words were now written! O that they
were printed (written) in a book! that they were graven with an iron pen
and lead in the rock for ever!” In the east there is a mode of writing,
which is designed to fix words in the memory, but the writing is not
intended for duration. Accordingly we are informed by Dr. Shaw, that
children learn to write in Barbary by means of a smooth thin board,
slightly covered with whiting, which may be wiped off or renewed at
pleasure. Job expresses his wish not only that his words were written,
but also written in a book, from which they should not be blotted out,
nay, still farther, graven in a rock, the most permanent mode of
recording them, and especially if the engraved letters were filled with
lead; or the rock was made to receive leaden tablets, the use of which
was known among the ancients. So Pliny, “At first men wrote on the
leaves of palm, and the bark of certain trees, but afterward public
documents were preserved on leaden plates, and those of a private nature
on wax, or linen.”
5. The first books were in the form of blocks and tables, of which we
find frequent mention in Scripture, under the appellation _sepher_,
which the Septuagint render ἀξίνες, that is, _square tables_: of which
form the book of the covenant, book of the law, book, or bill of
divorce, book of curses, &c, appear to have been. As flexible matters
came to be written on, they found it more convenient to make their books
in form of rolls, called by the Greeks κοντάκια, by the Latins
_volumina_, which appear to have been in use among the ancient Jews as
well as the Grecians, Romans, Persians, and even Indians; and of such
did the libraries chiefly consist, till some centuries after Christ. The
form which obtains among us is the square, composed of separate leaves;
which was also known, though little used, among the ancients; having
been invented by Attalus, king of Pergamus, the same who also invented
parchment: but it has now been so long in possession, that the oldest
manuscripts are found in it. Montfaucon assures us, that of all the
ancient Greek manuscripts he has seen, there are but two in the roll
form; the rest being made up much after the manner of the modern books.
The rolls, or volumes, were composed of several sheets, fastened to each
other, and rolled upon a stick, or _umbilicus_; the whole making a kind
of column, or cylinder, which was to be managed by the _umbilicus_, as a
handle; it being reputed a kind of crime to take hold of the roll
itself. The outside of the volume was called _frons_; the ends of the
_umbilicus_ were called _cornua_, “horns;” which were usually carved and
adorned likewise with silver, ivory, or even gold and precious stones.
Whilst the Egyptian papyrus was in common use, its brittle nature made
it proper to roll up what they wrote; and as this had been a customary
practice, many continued it when they used other materials, which might
very safely have been treated in a different manner. To the form of
books belongs the _economy of the inside_, or the order and arrangement
of points and letters into lines and pages, with margins and other
appurtenances. This has undergone many varieties: at first, the letters
were only divided into lines, then into separate words; which, by
degrees, were noted with accents, and distributed by points and stops
into periods, paragraphs, chapters, and other divisions. In some
countries, as among the orientals, the lines began from the right, and
ran to the left; in others, as in northern and western nations, from the
left to the right; others, as the Grecians, followed both directions
alternately, going in the one and returning in the other, called
_boustrophedon_, because it was after the manner of oxen turning when at
plough. In the Chinese books, the lines ran from top to bottom. Again:
the page in some is entire, and uniform; in others, divided into
columns; in others distinguished into texts and notes, either marginal,
or at the bottom: usually it is furnished with signatures and catch
words; also with a register to discover whether the book be complete. To
these are occasionally added the apparatus of summaries, or side notes;
the embellishments of red, gold, or figured initial letters, head
pieces, tail pieces, effigies, schemes, maps, and the like. The end of
the book now denoted by _finis_, was anciently marked with a =<=, called
_coronis_, and the whole frequently washed with an oil drawn from cedar,
or citron chips, strewed between the leaves to preserve it from rotting.
There also occur certain _formulæ_ at the beginning and end of books; as
among the Jews, the word חוק, _esto fortis_, which we find at the end of
the books of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Ezekiel, &c, to exhort the
reader to be courageous, and proceed on to the following book. The
conclusions were also often guarded with imprecations against such as
should falsify them; of which we have an instance in the Apocalypse. The
Mohammedans, for the like reason, place the name of God at the beginning
of all their books, which cannot fail to procure them protection, on
account of the infinite regard which they pay to that name, wherever
found. For the like reason it is, that divers of the laws of the ancient
emperors begin with the formula, _In nomine Dei_. [In the name of God.]
At the end of each book the Jews also added the number of verses
contained in it, and at the end of the Pentateuch the number of
sections; that, it might be transmitted to posterity entire. The
Masorites and Mohammedan doctors have gone farther; so as to number the
several words and letters in each book, chapter, verse, &c, of the Old
Testament and the Alcoran. The scarcity and high price of books in
former ages, ought to render us the more grateful for the discovery of
the great art of printing, as especially by that means the Holy Bible,
“the word of truth and Gospel of our salvation,” is made familiar to all
classes.
The universal ignorance that prevailed in Europe, from the seventh to
the eleventh century, may be ascribed to the scarcity of books during
that period, and the difficulty of rendering them more common,
concurring with other causes arising from the state of government and
manners. The Romans wrote their books either on parchment, or on paper
made of the Egyptian papyrus. The latter, being the cheapest, was of
course the most commonly used. But after the Saracens conquered Egypt,
in the seventh century, the communication between that country and the
people settled in Italy, or in other parts of Europe, was almost
entirely broken off, and the papyrus was no longer in use among them.
They were obliged on that account to write all their books upon
parchment; and as the price of that was high, books became extremely
rare and of great value. We may judge of the scarcity of materials for
writing them from one circumstance. There still remain several
manuscripts of the eighth, ninth, and following centuries, written on
parchment, from which some former writing had been erased, in order to
substitute a new composition in its place. Thus, it is probable, several
of the works of the ancients perished. A book of Livy or of Tacitus
might be erased, to make room for the legendary tale of a saint, or the
superstitious prayers of a missal. Nay, worse instances are recorded, of
obliterating copies of the Holy Scriptures to make room for the
lucubrations of some of the more modern fathers of the church.
Manuscripts thus defaced, the vellum or parchment of which is occupied
with some other writings, are called “palimpsests,” _codices rescripti_
or _palimpsesti_, from ϖαλίμψηϛος, “that which has been twice scraped.”
As this want of materials for writing will serve to account for the loss
of many of the works of the ancients, and for the small number of MSS.
previous to the eleventh century, many facts prove the scarcity of books
at this period. Private persons seldom possessed any books whatever; and
even monasteries of note had only one missal. In 1299, John de
Pontissara, bishop of Winchester, borrows of his cathedral convent of
St. Swithin, at Winchester, “_bibliam bene glossatam_,” that is, the
Bible, with marginal annotations, in two folio volumes; but gives a bond
for the return of it, drawn up with great solemnity. For the bequest of
this Bible to the convent, and one hundred marks, the monks founded a
daily mass for the soul of the donor. If any person gave a book to a
religious house, he believed that so valuable a donation merited eternal
salvation, and he offered it on the altar with great ceremony. The prior
and convent of Rochester declare, that they will every year pronounce
the irrevocable sentence of damnation on him who shall purloin or
conceal a Latin translation of Aristotle’s Poetics, or even obliterate
the title. Sometimes a book was given to a monastery, on condition that
the donor should have the use of it for his life; and sometimes to a
private person, with the reservation that he who receives it should pray
for the soul of his benefactor. In the year 1225, Roger de Insula, dean
of York, gave several Latin Bibles to the university of Oxford, on
condition that the students who perused them should deposit a cautionary
pledge. The library of that university, before the year 1300, consisted
only of a few tracts, chained or kept in chests, in the choir of St.
Mary’s church. The price of books became so high, that persons of a
moderate could not afford to purchase them. In the year 1174, Walter,
prior of St. Swithin’s at Winchester, purchased of the monks of
Dorchester, in Oxfordshire, Bede’s homilies, and St. Austin’s psalter
for twelve measures of barley and a pall, on which was embroidered in
silver the history of St. Birinus converting a Saxon king. About the
year 1400, a copy of John of Meun’s “Roman de la Rose” was sold before
the palace gate at Paris for forty crowns, or 33_l._ 6_s._ 6_d._ The
countess of Anjou paid, for a copy of the homilies of Haimon, bishop of
Halberstadt, two hundred sheep, five quarters of wheat, and the same
quantity of rye and millet. Even so late as the year 1471, when Louis
XI. of France borrowed the works of Rhasis, the Arabian physician, from
the faculty of medicine at Paris, he not only deposited by way of pledge
a considerable quantity of plate, but he was obliged to procure a
nobleman to join with him as surety in a deed, binding himself under a
great forfeiture to restore it. But when, in the eleventh century, the
art of making paper was invented, and more especially after the
manufacture became general, the number of MSS. increased, and the study
of the sciences was wonderfully facilitated. Indeed, the invention of
the art of making paper, and the invention of the art of printing, are
two very memorable events in the history of literature and of human
civilization. It is remarkable, that the former preceded the first
dawning of letters and improvement in knowledge, toward the close of the
eleventh century; and the latter ushered in the light which spread over
Europe at the æra of the reformation.
6. If the ancient books were large, they were formed of a number of
skins, of a number of pieces of linen and cotton cloth, or of papyrus,
or parchment, connected together. The leaves were rarely written over on
both sides, Ezek. ii, 9; Zech. v, 1. Books, when written upon very
flexible materials, were, as stated above, rolled round a stick; and, if
they were very long, round two, from the two extremities. The reader
unrolled the book to the place which he wanted, ἀναπτύζας τὸ βιλβλίον,
and rolled it up again, when he had read it, πτύζας τὸ βιβλίον, Luke iv,
17–20; whence the name מגלה, _a volume_, or thing rolled up, Psalm xl,
7; Isaiah xxxiv, 4; Ezek. ii, 9; 2 Kings xix, 14; Ezra vi, 2. The leaves
thus rolled round the stick, which has been mentioned, and bound with a
string, could be easily sealed, Isaiah xxix, 11; Dan. xii, 4; Rev. v, 1;
vi, 7. Those books, which were inscribed on tablets of wood, lead,
brass, or ivory, were connected together by rings at the back, through
which a rod was passed to carry them by. The orientals appear to have
taken pleasure in giving tropical or enigmatical titles to their books.
The titles, prefixed to the fifty-sixth, sixtieth, and eightieth psalms
appear to be of this description. And there can be no doubt, that
David’s elegy upon Saul and Jonathan, 2 Sam. i, 18, is called קשת or
_the bow_, in conformity with this peculiarity of taste.
The book, or flying roll, spoken of in Zech. v, 1, 2, twenty cubits long
and ten wide, was one of the ancient rolls, composed of many skins, or
parchments, glued or sewed together at the end. Though some of these
rolls or volumes were very long, yet none, probably, was ever made of
such a size as this. This contained the curses and calamities which
should befal the Jews. The extreme length and breadth of it shows the
excessive number and enormity of their sins, and the extent of their
punishment.
Isaiah, describing the effects of God’s wrath, says, “The heavens shall
be folded up like a book,” (scroll,) Isaiah xxxiv, 4. He alludes to the
way among the ancients, of rolling up books, when they purposed to close
them. A volume of several feet in length was suddenly rolled up into a
very small compass. Thus the heavens should shrink into themselves, and
disappear, as it were, from the eyes of God, when his wrath should be
kindled. These ways of speaking are figurative, and very energetic.
7. Book is sometimes used for letters, memoirs, an edict, or contract.
In short, the word _book_, in Hebrew, _sepher_, is much more extensive
than the Latin _liber_. The letters which Rabshakeh delivered from
Sennacherib to Hezekiah are called a book. The English translation,
indeed, reads _letter_; but the Septuagint has βιβλίον, and the Hebrew
text, הספרים. The contract, confirmed by Jeremiah for the purchase of a
field, is called by the same name, Jer. xxxii, 10; and also the edict of
Ahasuerus in favour of the Jews, Esther ix, 20, though our translators
have called it _letters_. The writing which a man gave to his wife when
he divorced her, was denominated, in Hebrew, “a book of divorce,” Deut.
xxiv.
intelligent therein, for the instruction or amusement of the reader. The
word is formed from the Gothic _boka_, or Saxon _boc_, which comes from
the Northern _buech_, of _buechaus_, a beech or service tree, on the
bark of which our ancestors used to write. Book is distinguished from
pamphlet, or single paper, by its greater length; and from tome or
volume, by its containing the whole writing on the subject. Isidore
makes this distinction between _liber_ and _codex_; that the former
denotes a single book, the latter a collection of several; though,
according to Scipio Maffei, _codex_ signifies a book in the square form;
_liber_, a book in the roll form. The primary distinction between
_liber_ and _codex_ seems to have been derived, as Dr. Heylin has
observed, from the different materials used for writing, among the
ancients: from the innerside of the bark of a tree, used for this
purpose, and called in Latin _liber_, the name of _liber_ applied to a
book was deduced; and from that tablet, formed from the main body of a
tree, called _caudex_, was derived the appellation of _codex_.
2. Several sorts of materials were formerly used in making books: stone
and wood were the first materials employed to engrave such things upon
as men were desirous of having transmitted to posterity. Porphyry makes
mention of some pillars preserved in Crete, on which the ceremonies
observed by the Corybantes in their sacrifices were recorded. The works
of Hesiod were originally written on tables of lead, and deposited in
the temple of the Muses in Bœotia. The laws of Jehovah were written
on tables of stone, and those of Solon on wooden planks. Tables of wood
and ivory were common among the ancients: those of wood, were very
frequently covered with wax, that persons might write on them with more
ease, or blot out what they had written. And the instrument used to
write with was a piece of iron, called a _style_; and hence the word
“style” came to be taken for the composition of the writing. The leaves
of the palm-tree were afterward used instead of wooden planks, and the
finest and thinnest part of the bark of such trees as the lime, ash,
maple, and elm; and especially the _tilio_, or _phillyrea_, and Egyptian
_papyrus_. Hence came the word _liber_, (a book,) which signifies the
inner bark of the trees. And as these barks were rolled up in order to
be removed with greater ease, each roll was called _volumen_, a volume;
a name afterward given to the like rolls of paper or parchment. From the
Egyptian papyrus the word _paper_ is derived. After this, leather was
introduced, especially the skins of goats and sheep. For the king of
Pergamus, in collecting his library, was led to the invention of
parchment made of those skins. The ancients likewise wrote upon linen.
Pliny says, the Parthians, even in his time, wrote upon their clothes;
and Livy speaks of certain books made of linen, _lintei libri_, upon
which the names of magistrates, and the history of the Roman
commonwealth, were written, and preserved in the temple of the goddess
Moneta.
3. The materials generally used by the ancients for their books, were
liable to be easily destroyed by the damp, when hidden in the earth; and
in times of war, devastation, and rapacity, it was necessary to bury in
the earth whatever they wished to preserve from the attacks of fraud and
violence. With this view, Jeremiah ordered the writings, which he
delivered to Baruch, to be put in an earthen vessel, Jer. xxxii. In the
same manner the ancient Egyptians made use of earthen urns, or pots of a
proper shape, for containing whatever they wanted to inter in the earth,
and which, without such care, would have been soon destroyed. We need
not wonder then, that the Prophet Jeremiah should think it necessary to
inclose those writings in an earthen pot, which were to be buried in
Judea, in some place where they might be found without much difficulty
on the return of the Jews from captivity. Accordingly two different
writings, or small rolls of writing, called books in the original
Hebrew, were designed to be inclosed in such an earthen vessel; but
commentators have been much embarrassed in giving any probable account
of the necessity of two writings, one sealed, the other open; or, as the
passage has been commonly understood, the one _sealed up_, the other
left _open_ for any one to read; more especially, as both were to be
alike buried in the earth and concealed from every eye, and both were to
be examined at the return from the captivity. But the word translated
_open_, in reference to the evidence, or book which was open, (1 Sam.
iii, 7, 21; Dan. ii, 19, 30; x, 1,) signifies the revealing of future
events to the minds of men by a divine agency; and it is particularly
used in the book of Esther, viii, 13, to express a book’s making known
the decree of an earthly king. Consequently the _open book_ of Jeremiah
seems to signify, not its being then lying open or unrolled before them,
while the other was sealed up; but the book that had revealed the will
of God, to bring back Israel into their own country, and to cause buying
and selling of houses and lands again to take place among them. This was
a _book of prophecy_, opening and revealing the future return of Israel,
and the other little book, which was ordered to be buried along with it,
was the purchase deed.
4. By adverting to the different modes of writing in eastern countries,
we obtain a satisfactory interpretation of a passage in the book of Job,
xix, 23, 24, and a distinct view of the beautiful gradation which is
lost in our translation: “O that my words were now written! O that they
were printed (written) in a book! that they were graven with an iron pen
and lead in the rock for ever!” In the east there is a mode of writing,
which is designed to fix words in the memory, but the writing is not
intended for duration. Accordingly we are informed by Dr. Shaw, that
children learn to write in Barbary by means of a smooth thin board,
slightly covered with whiting, which may be wiped off or renewed at
pleasure. Job expresses his wish not only that his words were written,
but also written in a book, from which they should not be blotted out,
nay, still farther, graven in a rock, the most permanent mode of
recording them, and especially if the engraved letters were filled with
lead; or the rock was made to receive leaden tablets, the use of which
was known among the ancients. So Pliny, “At first men wrote on the
leaves of palm, and the bark of certain trees, but afterward public
documents were preserved on leaden plates, and those of a private nature
on wax, or linen.”
5. The first books were in the form of blocks and tables, of which we
find frequent mention in Scripture, under the appellation _sepher_,
which the Septuagint render ἀξίνες, that is, _square tables_: of which
form the book of the covenant, book of the law, book, or bill of
divorce, book of curses, &c, appear to have been. As flexible matters
came to be written on, they found it more convenient to make their books
in form of rolls, called by the Greeks κοντάκια, by the Latins
_volumina_, which appear to have been in use among the ancient Jews as
well as the Grecians, Romans, Persians, and even Indians; and of such
did the libraries chiefly consist, till some centuries after Christ. The
form which obtains among us is the square, composed of separate leaves;
which was also known, though little used, among the ancients; having
been invented by Attalus, king of Pergamus, the same who also invented
parchment: but it has now been so long in possession, that the oldest
manuscripts are found in it. Montfaucon assures us, that of all the
ancient Greek manuscripts he has seen, there are but two in the roll
form; the rest being made up much after the manner of the modern books.
The rolls, or volumes, were composed of several sheets, fastened to each
other, and rolled upon a stick, or _umbilicus_; the whole making a kind
of column, or cylinder, which was to be managed by the _umbilicus_, as a
handle; it being reputed a kind of crime to take hold of the roll
itself. The outside of the volume was called _frons_; the ends of the
_umbilicus_ were called _cornua_, “horns;” which were usually carved and
adorned likewise with silver, ivory, or even gold and precious stones.
Whilst the Egyptian papyrus was in common use, its brittle nature made
it proper to roll up what they wrote; and as this had been a customary
practice, many continued it when they used other materials, which might
very safely have been treated in a different manner. To the form of
books belongs the _economy of the inside_, or the order and arrangement
of points and letters into lines and pages, with margins and other
appurtenances. This has undergone many varieties: at first, the letters
were only divided into lines, then into separate words; which, by
degrees, were noted with accents, and distributed by points and stops
into periods, paragraphs, chapters, and other divisions. In some
countries, as among the orientals, the lines began from the right, and
ran to the left; in others, as in northern and western nations, from the
left to the right; others, as the Grecians, followed both directions
alternately, going in the one and returning in the other, called
_boustrophedon_, because it was after the manner of oxen turning when at
plough. In the Chinese books, the lines ran from top to bottom. Again:
the page in some is entire, and uniform; in others, divided into
columns; in others distinguished into texts and notes, either marginal,
or at the bottom: usually it is furnished with signatures and catch
words; also with a register to discover whether the book be complete. To
these are occasionally added the apparatus of summaries, or side notes;
the embellishments of red, gold, or figured initial letters, head
pieces, tail pieces, effigies, schemes, maps, and the like. The end of
the book now denoted by _finis_, was anciently marked with a =<=, called
_coronis_, and the whole frequently washed with an oil drawn from cedar,
or citron chips, strewed between the leaves to preserve it from rotting.
There also occur certain _formulæ_ at the beginning and end of books; as
among the Jews, the word חוק, _esto fortis_, which we find at the end of
the books of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Ezekiel, &c, to exhort the
reader to be courageous, and proceed on to the following book. The
conclusions were also often guarded with imprecations against such as
should falsify them; of which we have an instance in the Apocalypse. The
Mohammedans, for the like reason, place the name of God at the beginning
of all their books, which cannot fail to procure them protection, on
account of the infinite regard which they pay to that name, wherever
found. For the like reason it is, that divers of the laws of the ancient
emperors begin with the formula, _In nomine Dei_. [In the name of God.]
At the end of each book the Jews also added the number of verses
contained in it, and at the end of the Pentateuch the number of
sections; that, it might be transmitted to posterity entire. The
Masorites and Mohammedan doctors have gone farther; so as to number the
several words and letters in each book, chapter, verse, &c, of the Old
Testament and the Alcoran. The scarcity and high price of books in
former ages, ought to render us the more grateful for the discovery of
the great art of printing, as especially by that means the Holy Bible,
“the word of truth and Gospel of our salvation,” is made familiar to all
classes.
The universal ignorance that prevailed in Europe, from the seventh to
the eleventh century, may be ascribed to the scarcity of books during
that period, and the difficulty of rendering them more common,
concurring with other causes arising from the state of government and
manners. The Romans wrote their books either on parchment, or on paper
made of the Egyptian papyrus. The latter, being the cheapest, was of
course the most commonly used. But after the Saracens conquered Egypt,
in the seventh century, the communication between that country and the
people settled in Italy, or in other parts of Europe, was almost
entirely broken off, and the papyrus was no longer in use among them.
They were obliged on that account to write all their books upon
parchment; and as the price of that was high, books became extremely
rare and of great value. We may judge of the scarcity of materials for
writing them from one circumstance. There still remain several
manuscripts of the eighth, ninth, and following centuries, written on
parchment, from which some former writing had been erased, in order to
substitute a new composition in its place. Thus, it is probable, several
of the works of the ancients perished. A book of Livy or of Tacitus
might be erased, to make room for the legendary tale of a saint, or the
superstitious prayers of a missal. Nay, worse instances are recorded, of
obliterating copies of the Holy Scriptures to make room for the
lucubrations of some of the more modern fathers of the church.
Manuscripts thus defaced, the vellum or parchment of which is occupied
with some other writings, are called “palimpsests,” _codices rescripti_
or _palimpsesti_, from ϖαλίμψηϛος, “that which has been twice scraped.”
As this want of materials for writing will serve to account for the loss
of many of the works of the ancients, and for the small number of MSS.
previous to the eleventh century, many facts prove the scarcity of books
at this period. Private persons seldom possessed any books whatever; and
even monasteries of note had only one missal. In 1299, John de
Pontissara, bishop of Winchester, borrows of his cathedral convent of
St. Swithin, at Winchester, “_bibliam bene glossatam_,” that is, the
Bible, with marginal annotations, in two folio volumes; but gives a bond
for the return of it, drawn up with great solemnity. For the bequest of
this Bible to the convent, and one hundred marks, the monks founded a
daily mass for the soul of the donor. If any person gave a book to a
religious house, he believed that so valuable a donation merited eternal
salvation, and he offered it on the altar with great ceremony. The prior
and convent of Rochester declare, that they will every year pronounce
the irrevocable sentence of damnation on him who shall purloin or
conceal a Latin translation of Aristotle’s Poetics, or even obliterate
the title. Sometimes a book was given to a monastery, on condition that
the donor should have the use of it for his life; and sometimes to a
private person, with the reservation that he who receives it should pray
for the soul of his benefactor. In the year 1225, Roger de Insula, dean
of York, gave several Latin Bibles to the university of Oxford, on
condition that the students who perused them should deposit a cautionary
pledge. The library of that university, before the year 1300, consisted
only of a few tracts, chained or kept in chests, in the choir of St.
Mary’s church. The price of books became so high, that persons of a
moderate could not afford to purchase them. In the year 1174, Walter,
prior of St. Swithin’s at Winchester, purchased of the monks of
Dorchester, in Oxfordshire, Bede’s homilies, and St. Austin’s psalter
for twelve measures of barley and a pall, on which was embroidered in
silver the history of St. Birinus converting a Saxon king. About the
year 1400, a copy of John of Meun’s “Roman de la Rose” was sold before
the palace gate at Paris for forty crowns, or 33_l._ 6_s._ 6_d._ The
countess of Anjou paid, for a copy of the homilies of Haimon, bishop of
Halberstadt, two hundred sheep, five quarters of wheat, and the same
quantity of rye and millet. Even so late as the year 1471, when Louis
XI. of France borrowed the works of Rhasis, the Arabian physician, from
the faculty of medicine at Paris, he not only deposited by way of pledge
a considerable quantity of plate, but he was obliged to procure a
nobleman to join with him as surety in a deed, binding himself under a
great forfeiture to restore it. But when, in the eleventh century, the
art of making paper was invented, and more especially after the
manufacture became general, the number of MSS. increased, and the study
of the sciences was wonderfully facilitated. Indeed, the invention of
the art of making paper, and the invention of the art of printing, are
two very memorable events in the history of literature and of human
civilization. It is remarkable, that the former preceded the first
dawning of letters and improvement in knowledge, toward the close of the
eleventh century; and the latter ushered in the light which spread over
Europe at the æra of the reformation.
6. If the ancient books were large, they were formed of a number of
skins, of a number of pieces of linen and cotton cloth, or of papyrus,
or parchment, connected together. The leaves were rarely written over on
both sides, Ezek. ii, 9; Zech. v, 1. Books, when written upon very
flexible materials, were, as stated above, rolled round a stick; and, if
they were very long, round two, from the two extremities. The reader
unrolled the book to the place which he wanted, ἀναπτύζας τὸ βιλβλίον,
and rolled it up again, when he had read it, πτύζας τὸ βιβλίον, Luke iv,
17–20; whence the name מגלה, _a volume_, or thing rolled up, Psalm xl,
7; Isaiah xxxiv, 4; Ezek. ii, 9; 2 Kings xix, 14; Ezra vi, 2. The leaves
thus rolled round the stick, which has been mentioned, and bound with a
string, could be easily sealed, Isaiah xxix, 11; Dan. xii, 4; Rev. v, 1;
vi, 7. Those books, which were inscribed on tablets of wood, lead,
brass, or ivory, were connected together by rings at the back, through
which a rod was passed to carry them by. The orientals appear to have
taken pleasure in giving tropical or enigmatical titles to their books.
The titles, prefixed to the fifty-sixth, sixtieth, and eightieth psalms
appear to be of this description. And there can be no doubt, that
David’s elegy upon Saul and Jonathan, 2 Sam. i, 18, is called קשת or
_the bow_, in conformity with this peculiarity of taste.
The book, or flying roll, spoken of in Zech. v, 1, 2, twenty cubits long
and ten wide, was one of the ancient rolls, composed of many skins, or
parchments, glued or sewed together at the end. Though some of these
rolls or volumes were very long, yet none, probably, was ever made of
such a size as this. This contained the curses and calamities which
should befal the Jews. The extreme length and breadth of it shows the
excessive number and enormity of their sins, and the extent of their
punishment.
Isaiah, describing the effects of God’s wrath, says, “The heavens shall
be folded up like a book,” (scroll,) Isaiah xxxiv, 4. He alludes to the
way among the ancients, of rolling up books, when they purposed to close
them. A volume of several feet in length was suddenly rolled up into a
very small compass. Thus the heavens should shrink into themselves, and
disappear, as it were, from the eyes of God, when his wrath should be
kindled. These ways of speaking are figurative, and very energetic.
7. Book is sometimes used for letters, memoirs, an edict, or contract.
In short, the word _book_, in Hebrew, _sepher_, is much more extensive
than the Latin _liber_. The letters which Rabshakeh delivered from
Sennacherib to Hezekiah are called a book. The English translation,
indeed, reads _letter_; but the Septuagint has βιβλίον, and the Hebrew
text, הספרים. The contract, confirmed by Jeremiah for the purchase of a
field, is called by the same name, Jer. xxxii, 10; and also the edict of
Ahasuerus in favour of the Jews, Esther ix, 20, though our translators
have called it _letters_. The writing which a man gave to his wife when
he divorced her, was denominated, in Hebrew, “a book of divorce,” Deut.
xxiv.