Form Dictates Function
My fascination with material (board, paper, papyrous,old books )and form derives here………….
Throughout most of the library’s history, the term “book” referred to works written on papyrus and some parchment rolls. Beginning in the second century, stacked and bound wooden boards recorded literature, science, and technical information. These tablets, called codex, derived from a centuries-old practice of using wooden writing tablets for notetaking. These new, durable codices gradually replaced the fragile rolls. However, rolls continued to be used for archival-type documents. Parchment eventually replaced the wooden boards.
The new codex form impacted book storage. Codices were stored flat on the shelf and covers protected their leaves. The libraries had to find ways to house both rolls and codices.
New libraries emerging in the Middle Ages in churches, schools, and monasteries concerned themselves only with the codex form.
