PRIMITIVE BOOKS 



of glue and mechanical pressure. The strips of papyrus 

 were usually from eight to fourteen inches in width, and 

 from a few feet to several yards in length. This scroll 

 was not used, as might perhaps have been expected, 

 for the insertion of a single continuous column of 

 writing. A moment's consideration will make it clear 

 that such a method would have created difficulties both 

 for the scribe and for the reader; therefore the much 

 more convenient method was adopted of writing lines 

 a few inches in length, so placed as to form transverse 

 columns, which followed one another in regular sequence 

 from the beginning to the end of the scroll. Each 

 column was therefore closely similar, in size and ap- 

 pearance, to the page of a modern book. It will be seen 

 that such a scroll could be read conveniently by rolling 

 up one end as fast as the other was unrolled, the process, 

 however, requiring the use of both hands. When not 

 in use, the book formed a compact roll convenient either 

 for carrying about or for storing on a shelf. 



That this form of book had great practical merits is 

 shown by the fact that it was adopted by the Greeks and 

 Romans. Parchment was the substitute for papyrus 

 as material for the roll, but the form of the book itself 

 was not changed, in any essential, throughout the clas- 

 sical period. All of the Greek and Roman books con- 

 sisted of such rolls, and this, presumably, was the form 

 also in which the Hebrew writings were first given to 

 the world. It will be recalled that the classical writers 

 usually divided their works into so-called books of com- 

 paratively small extent. Thus the History of Herodo- 

 tus, as everyone knows, is divided into eight books. 



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