BOOK. — This term properly designates the writing material which, after suitable preparation, is used to receive and disseminate the graphic expression of thought, executed by hand or by mechanical means. Apart from minor examples (silk, lead plates, clay tablets, wax tablets), the writing material is represented above all, as time progresses, by papyrus (v.), parchment (v.), and paper (v.); materials used for epigraphy (marble, bronze) do not fall within the concept of a book, nor do the materials of books themselves when used for another purpose, even if they contain writing, as in the case of documents.
The form of the book varies according to the material used: with papyrus, the scroll (volumen) predominates, obtained by means of a long strip of sheets glued side by side, which is rolled around a wooden or ivory rod; with parchment, on the other hand, the codex (caudex) is used, consisting of a set of folded sheets hinged in the middle and superimposed to form fascicles of two (binio), three (ternio), four (quaternio), or more double sheets. This more practical form was preserved even after the adoption of paper.
In the first period of its history, which extends from the most remote times to the mid-15th century, the book was written by hand with various tools and inks. The reproduction of texts was carried out in scriptoria, where copyists or scribes worked, constituting a kind of craft; their work was remunerated according to rules that were first definitively established in the Library of Alexandria during the Hellenistic period. With Christianity, however, a profound change also occurred in this field, largely due to monasticism, which deserves credit for continuing and perfecting the scribal and doctrinal tradition; only towards the 12th century, with the rise of universities, did the laicization of writing centers resume, a trend that would intensify further with Humanism and the Renaissance.
The first period, that of the manuscript book, is followed by that of printing with movable type. The technique of engraving designs and colored figures on wooden matrices for printing on fabrics, religious images, and playing cards was already known. Wooden molds with fixed characters were also used for reproducing particular texts known as xylographic or block books, which had limited diffusion during the 15th century; but they have no relation of dependence to printing with movable type, whose first manifestations date to the mid-15th century. The inventor was Johannes Gensfleisch, Gutenberg (v.), who worked primarily in Mainz. From Germany, printing (v. INCUNABULUM) spread rapidly throughout Europe, and first of all in Italy, where it soon reached a high degree of perfection (Subiaco, Rome, Venice, Milan, Naples, Florence, and many other cities) and flourished most notably in the 16th century (v. BLADO; GIULIO; GIUDA; MANILIO). In the 17th century, the most active and renowned center was in the Netherlands (v. ELZEVIER (ELSEVIER)), but in the following century France (v. DIDOT) and Italy (v. BODONI) regained prominence.
In the 19th century, the art of typography became industrialized, until the 20th century represented the full triumph of machinery in all manifestations of the book industry. Recently, photographic techniques have opened a new chapter in the history of the book: especially in American libraries, where the adoption of microfilm tends to replace printed books. It should be noted, however, that this system, while highly useful in terms of space savings, is poorly suited for consultation when applied to volumes with many pages or large formats. It nevertheless presupposes the printed book.
The interest that the book arouses as one of the most important manifestations of civilization, its importance for the dissemination of human thought, and the special care and expertise required for its collection and preservation have given rise to a particular discipline around it: bibliology, which not only
TO XXXII. 195
CANTO XXXII.
The contemplative, who contemplates his pleasure,
Last free doctor of the absent,
And began these holy words:
The wound, which Mary asks and dies for,
That which opened in her mind,
And code, which opened and which pierced her.
Of the order, which the third seats make,
Seat faculty of state from rest
With letters, as you sit.
Sara, Reba, Reba, Reba, Reba,
Which strikes the heart, which for sorrow
Of the fault must weep seven times,
You wander from threshold to threshold
With sighs, with tears, and in your own name
You go through the hour, from leaf to leaf.
And from the seventh degree downward, and as
I begin to weep, they follow
Tearing the end of all their hair;
Because, according to the gaze, which
The faith in Christ made, these are the wall,
To which I bring you the true sayings.
(1st. Enc. Catt.)
BOOK — Divine Comedy: Paradiso, XXXII, 1-21, Bodoni Edition edited by Jacopo Dionisi (Parma 1795) — Copy from the Vatican Library.
cellulolytic, but which, according to current trends, presupposes as preparatory or concomitant bacterial action. Some species are exclusively cellulolytic, others ubiquitous. Their fibrolytic activity also varies. Parasitologists and hygienists have paid particular attention to the spread of pathogenic germs through books and their contagiousness among readers, without reaching unanimous or definitive conclusions. Books can suffer damage from violent traumatic causes due to accidents: fires, collapses, volcanic and flood disasters, explosions, shipwrecks. These result in oxidations, carbonizations, crushing, abrasions, pulping, and dilutions.
Once the nature, causes, and origin of the damage have been ascertained, with the aid of necessary experimental means, work is carried out on the material to halt ongoing degenerative processes and ensure its further preservation through repair interventions. Preliminary investigations are therefore required to identify the agents that caused the alterations and research into the choice of remedies to be adopted: disinfectants and antiseptics, decolorizing reagents, detergent actions and substances, and the possibility of total or partial interventions.
Restoration consists of a complex of operations requiring special techniques. It derives from an ancient artisanal tradition that surrounded itself with mysterious secrets. Today, thanks to progress made and the collaboration of experimenters, rational procedures have replaced the usual empirical methods. By rigorously accounting for the particular state of the material, restoration can be total or partial. It must achieve the preservation of the material itself, not the texts, ornamentation, or any marks left by human hands. It demands the greatest sense of responsibility and the most absolute and jealous respect for the morphological and structural integrity of the various elements that constitute the book. It should, however, be considered an exceptional remedy, to be adopted only in cases where the preservation of a text is gravely compromised.
The restoration operations subsequently performed are:
a) unsewing the book;
b) cleaning, stain removal, and washing of individual leaves;
c) patching;
d) flattening;
e) reassembly and sewing;
f) binding and finishing. — See pl. LXXXV.
BOOK
Diseases of the book: Conidia and mycelium of *Stemphylium botryosum* Wallr.
The study of the book examines its history in relation to its materials and writing instruments, typographic technique, ornamentation (see MINIATURE), binding (see), but it also addresses damage and restoration, publishing techniques, book trade, and bibliophilia.