Re: Early Paper Books?

[Winston Pei <info@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I'd be interested in what you find.

I know that by the third century, the codex and _parchment_ had increased
in usage, thanks to the Roman empire, but that's hardly cheap materials.
However, paper was invented back in the first century and there was a 600
year period where the whole range of book-making technologies remained in
popular use -- papyrus and parchment scrolls, papyrus codices, multi-leaf
wax tablets, parchment and paper codices -- depending on your geographical
location. I'm not up on the latest research, but I think it would be
plausible that there could have been an early adoption of a paper codex.

This book is an older one, but might help shed some light:

Roberts, Colin H. and T.C. Skeats. The Birth of the Codex. Oxford: Oxford
UP, 1987.

Look forward to hearing more.

Winston Pei


>Dear Bright Friends,
>
>I am very puzzled by something I ran across today.  I was reading "Book
>Illumination in the Middle Ages" by Otto Pacht, and on page 14 he says:
>
>It has recently been further established that the Christian community
>actively favoured codices in paper at an early date, certainly by the
>second century; in other words, there was a change towards the codex but
>to one made with cheap writing material.
>
>Further, on page 18:
>
>Early Christian codices, made of paper. . .
>
>All the information I have been able to find elsewhere says that
>paper was introduced into Europe in the 12th or 13th century.  Pacht
>makes a very clear distinction between paper and papyrus, so I don't
>think it possible that he's referring to papyrus in these quotes. Can
>anyone shed more light on this?
>
>Sally


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