History of books
Book Production
In antiquity and the Middle Ages books were written by hand.
Antiquity
In ancient Greece, the standard form of the book, which was acquired from the Pharaonic Egypt, mostly from Papyrus (rare parchment ) is existing role. The oldest Greek literature ( from 700 BC, Homer ) is not preserved in contemporary book roles. Nevertheless, it can be assumed that the use of the scroll in Greece goes back to the archaic period. Pictorial representations of scrolls we know in Greece since the 5th century BC The oldest original discoveries of Greek papyri come from Egypt. They date back to the 4th century BC. At this time, for example, the great philosophical schools of Athens must have already possessed extensive collections of books. Through the establishment of large libraries in several capitals Hellenistic kingdoms (eg Alexandria, Pergamum ) ancient book production took a big upswing. That in the Library of Alexandria, or at least for this, books were copied on a large scale, is well attested. Since the philologists of the library have created text editions, it must also be for this purpose have established their own, or at least the library attached book production. About form and organization of private book production in ancient Greece Further details are not known.
In ancient Rome, book rolls were with Greek and Latin texts since 3 / 2 Century BC spread. Since the 2nd century BC there were private libraries; public libraries for Greek and Latin literature produced since the early imperial period. Since the 1st century BC, there was a circumferential book market. The production of books was done by slaves and freedmen in patrician households. As part of a systematic production occurred first publisher figures such as Atticus, who moved, inter alia, the works of Cicero. Even the names of some booksellers have survived (eg the brothers Sosius by Seneca ).
The papyrus remained to n in the 2nd century BC, the predominant form of a book. In addition, since the 6th century BC, in Greece early forms of the Code. They consisted, as we of pictorial representations ( eg recorders Statues of the Athenian Acropolis ) from tacked know, sometimes waxed wooden tablets. The Holztafelkodices remained in the form of so-called diptychs (also triptychs or polyptychs ) throughout the Roman times for various purposes in use. From them the parchment sheets ( rare papyrus ) developed stapled between two cover form of the Code. Initially, it was next to the scroll in use, but this had to Late Antiquity (4th / 5th century AD ) displaced as a standard form of the book. The ancient papyrus scrolls were systematically rewritten in Pergamentkodices who were more comfortable in use and were preferred by Christians on religious grounds. Created by- use books illuminated deluxe editions of a pagan as well as numerous biblical texts. The late antique Code, the predecessor of the medieval and modern book.
Middle Ages
In the Middle Ages book production focused on the monasteries. In their scriptoria from the monks wrote books and thus created new copies for their own use and for clients. Only in the late Middle Ages book production went over on commercial scrivener to any significant extent. In the university cities of the Pecia - system in which the Stationarius the University a central copy of important doctrinal texts under management, which they spent in individual layers of different professional writer to copy originated.
Paper as writing material for books prevails since the 14th century, with parchment remained particularly for higher- books in use for long.
This system of book production could not meet the demand for books in the 15th century, so the introduction of printing with mechanical lettering can be seen as a response to increased demand book.
8th century
The earliest Korean printing, in the early eighth century in the period of Unified Silla dynasty ( 668-935 ) emerged, printing letters were still used wooden.
11th Century
The most notable example of a timber pressure in the Goryeo Dynasty in Korea is the multi-volume Tripitaka from the reign of King Hyeonjong ( reign: 1010-1031 ). The work was the second Tripitaka that was ever printed. Thereafter, the pressure of a comment about the Tripitaka followed. This comment Tripitaka was the first one that has ever been published. Already at the beginning of the Goryeo dynasty of wood pressure was so far advanced that not only elaborate publications such as the Tripitaka, but also ordinary books were produced using wood pressure. See also: Tripitaka Koreana
14th Century
The printed in Korea in July 1377 second volume of the anthology of Zen teaching great Buddhist priest ( " Buljo Jikji Simche yojeol ", Vol II) is the oldest known example of printing with movable metal type, and was founded in 2001 in the UNESCO "Memory of the World " (see also: World Documentary Heritage ) was added.
15th Century
After precursors in the so-called block books invention of the classic book printing with movable type by Johannes Gutenberg. Prints from the 15th century called incunabula ( early printed books, incunabula ).
See also: spread of printing, Letterpress printing in the early modern period
16th century
During the 15th century, around three quarters of the printed texts were still printed in Latin, it was the reverse in the 16th century. In the course of humanism Latin was replaced more and more as the sole language of science.
The amount of printed works as a whole rose by about 30,000 titles in the 15th century. The list published in the German speaking countries in the 16th century (VD 16) lists about 90,000 different titles. It is estimated from 130,000 to 150,000.
In addition to scientific works still were operational writings (eg pamphlets of the Reformation ), popular books designed (for example, from the workshop of Sigmund Feyerabend, Stands books, women's costume books, Hans Sachs, with over 6,000 titles, in 1525 Adam Ries ) and consuming bibliophile books (eg in the order of Emperor Maximilian I ) were prepared.
The leaflets ( individual leaves) and pamphlets were distributed among other so-called colporteurs and contained news, rumors, household tips, horoscopes, etc. Since only a small part of the population could read the writings were often read aloud.
A center of scientific book production was Basel, as many ancient writings from northern Italy came over Basel to Germany and were printed there. Already at the beginning of the 16th century founded the Basel printer an association.
In the 16th century an increasing number of book illustrations prevailed with woodcuts. Only towards the end of the century engravings were used also increased.
- See also: Georgius Agricola ( 1556: de re metallica ), Erasmus of Rotterdam, Andreas Vesalius ( the one of the first " anatomy " edited ), John Petreius (1543: De revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium of Nicolaus Copernicus )
17th Century
Due to the Thirty Years War, the development of printing stagnated (at least in Germany ) for some time. Lower quality paper, inks and binding become apparent. The first Paperbacks appear on the market.
With newspapers and magazines, new forms of publications developed. First scientific magazines came in the second half of the 17th century ( Le Journal des Savants Paris and Philosophical Transactions [London ], both 1665) and were published by scientific academies. Scientific journals solved the priority exchange from by correspondence. As a language of science was beside Latin ( the longer in Germany remained standard ) also uses local languages. End of the 17th century saw the first popular science magazines.
- Roman typeface ( replacing the fracture)
18th century
The 18th century brought major changes for the medium book in the German language area. The taking root in this century ends fair catalogs exhibit significant growth in the field of novelties and production rates. In addition, the lingua franca changed increasingly from Latin of scholars and educated to works in German, which aimed at a broad, " anonymous, verbürgerliches reading public ." Due to the rising sales figures and new popular genres such as the novel, more emphasis was increasingly placed on quality, features and thus production techniques in the book sector. These novels, which already accounted for 5% of all new releases in 1740 on the book market and content apart sat with both history and morality, religion, philosophy and statecraft were the literary expression of the emancipated bourgeoisie. In this phase, the copper engraving illustration reached its peak as a central equipment of the former releases. Especially scientific works such as plant, animal, bird and insect books with extensive engravings, which were still partly hand-colored fitted. These illustrations serve as an additional incentive to purchase, however, was considered for the publisher as a risk factor. Bought the audience the works consuming and expensive not produced, they had to accept large financial losses.