Book
A book is a set of written, printed,
illustrated, or blank sheets, made of ink, paper, parchment, or
other materials, fastened together to hinge at one side. A single sheet within
a book is a leaf, and
each side of a leaf is a page.
The word book comes from Old
English "bōc"
which (itself) comes from the Germanic root
"*bōk-", cognate to beech. Similarly, in Slavic
languages (for
example, Russian,Bulgarian, Macedonian) "буква"
(bukva—"letter") is cognate with "beech". In Russian and in Serbian and Macedonian, another Slavic
languages, the words "букварь" (bukvar') and "буквар"
(bukvar), respectively, refer specifically to a primary school textbook that
helps young children master the techniques of reading and writing. It is thus
conjectured that the earliest Indo-European writings may have been carved on beech wood. Similarly, the Latin word codex, meaning a book in the
modern sense (bound and with separate leaves), originally meant "block of
wood".
When writing systems were created in ancient civilizations, nearly
everything that could be written upon—stone, clay, tree
bark, metal sheets—was used for writing.The study of such inscriptions forms a
major part of history. The study of inscriptions is known asepigraphy. Alphabetic writing emerged in Egypt . The Ancient Egyptians would often
write on papyrus, a
plant grown along the Nile River. At first the words were not separated from
each other (scriptura continua) and
there was no punctuation. Texts
were written from right to left, left to right, and even so that alternate
lines
read in opposite directions. The
technical term for this type of writing is 'boustrophedon,' which
means literally 'ox-turning' for the way a farmer drives an ox to plough his
fields.
In the 5th century, Isidore of Seville explained the then-current relation
between codex, book and scroll in his Etymologiae (VI.13): "A codex is
composed of many books; a book is of one scroll. It is called codex by way of
metaphor from the trunks (codex) of trees or vines, as if it were a
wooden stock, because it contains in itself a multitude of books, as it were of
branches." Modern usage differs.
The fall of the Roman
Empire in the
5th century A.D. saw the decline of the culture of ancient Rome. Papyrus
became difficult to obtain due to lack of contact with Egypt, and parchment, which
had been used for centuries, became the main writing material.
Steam-powered printing presses became popular
in the early 19th century. These machines could print 1,100 sheets per hour,
but workers could only set 2,000 letters per hour.
Monotype and linotype typesetting machines were introduced in
the late 19th century. They could set more than 6,000 letters per hour and an
entire line of type at once.
The centuries after the 15th century
were thus spent on improving both the printing press and the conditions for freedom of the press through the gradual relaxation of
restrictive censorship laws. See also intellectual property, public domain, copyright. In mid-20th century, European book
production had risen to over 200,000 titles per year.
In modern times, has become popular
e-book.
The term e-book is a contraction of
"electronic book"; it refers to a book-length publication in digital
form. An e-book is usually made
available through the internet, but also on CD-ROM and other forms. E-Books may
be read either via a computer or by means of a portable book display device
known as an e-book reader, such as the Sony
Reader,Barnes & Noble Nook, Kobo
eReader, or the Amazon
Kindle. These devices attempt to mimic the experience of
reading a print book.
Book design is the art of incorporating
the content, style, format, design, and sequence of the various components of a
book into a coherent whole.
In the words of Jan Tschichold, book
design "though largely forgotten today, methods and rules upon which it is
impossible to improve have been developed over centuries. To produce perfect
books these rules have to be brought back to life and applied." Richard
Hendel describes book design as "an arcane subject" and refers to the
need for a context to understand what that means.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pgat3ItPJc4slaidi
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pgat3ItPJc4slaidi
