The History of Codex - Essay Example

No. 12345 HISTORY OF X ABC of XYZ Department of LMN 12 March, Table of Contents Contents Page No Introduction 03 Historical Background 03 (i) European World 04 (ii) Far East World 05 (iii) American World 05 Difference between Scrolls and Codices 05 Codices of 15th and 16th Centuries 05 (i) Codex Borbonicus 06 (ii) Boturini Codex 06 (iii) Codex Mendoza 06 (iv) Florentine Codex 06 (vi) Codex Cozcatzin 06 Development of Printing of Books 06 Conclusions 07 Works Cited 09 Appendices 10-13 Student Name Modern World Governments University XYZ 06 March, 2010 Introduction Codex is a Latin word that means a block of wood but generally it is used for a book that is formatted on modern techniques i.e. collection of separate pages bound together with a title cover (web.ceu.hu/medstud/manual/MMM/glossary.html). It was invented by Romans that replaced the use of scroll, a very first form of book for literary works. A wonderful work has been done in the history to achieve the excellence of codex but unfortunately a detailed history of research has still not been compiled. This paper provides a brief history about the codex through centuries. By describing brief history of different codices, an attempt has been made to highlight the importance of codex history. Such history will not only provide a better understanding of past work but it will also provide an understanding of the development of ideas as well as a base for future research. Historical Background Today’s physical form of the book took a series of severe changes of about 5000 years. However, its most popular format has been in the shape of codex i.e. a collection of bounded and covered pages. Just after few hundred years of its creation, the codex book gained a distinct domination over the past well-liked format of papyrus scroll. One important factor that brought the supremacy of codex on scroll was the effective role of Christianity. Christian church took revolutionary steps to distinguish the writings of its holy books from the Jewish influence. They implemented several unique codex formats for its scriptures. Consequently, Christianity spread throughout the history and its codex formats as well. The Romans civilization is considered as the pioneer that used the codices (plural of codex) as personal notebooks e.g. their use in the form of mail etc. For this purpose they used wax-covered pills of wood and stylus. These codices were ephemeral and informal because after using once, they were washed out for their use again. In the history, the first occurrence of the use of the codex is the later part of 1st century when The Romans used the codex for the circulation of educational works. At that time, literary works were carried out through scrolls media which remained dominantly effective till the 4th century. Later on Chinese remained in practice in using of scroll for their literary purposes. Christians also widely used the papyrus codex during 2nd century. Evidences revealed that the most primitive surviving fragments from codices came from Egypt during the 1st and 2nd century (Turner, 1977 and Roberts & Skeat, 1983). An example of egypt papyrus is given as Appendix-I on page 10. These codices were made of papyrus. Regardless of cost, papyrus became rare with the passage of time because it was too fragile against the parchment and vellum which gained popularity for their durability. (i) European World During the 4th century, the scrolls were replaced by codex in western societies and after a short time they got broad recognition. Until 8th century, number of scrolls which were not transformed into codex lost their individual identities. These codices had several prominent and better features than scrolls. The following table provides a distinction between codices and scrolls. (ii) Far East World The use of scroll continued longer than the western countries. Transitional phases occurred in the Far East cultures because the scrolls were folded in concertina-style at the back while books were written or printed only on one side of the paper. (iii) American World History provides evidences that the format of codices used in American world during Pre-Columbian Mesoamerica was almost the same as that of European codices. In European codices had long folded strips while in American codices there was the application of layer of whitewash before writing. This whitewash was the only difference between these codices. New World codices were written after the Spanish conquests during the 16th century. Difference between Scrolls and Codices S. No Scrolls Codices 1 2 3 4 It was difficult to read through scrolls For a particular page, the whole scroll was opened Scrolls were not portable or difficult to port from one place to other There was no concept of library with respect to scroll Codices made the reading easier as the pages could be written on both recto and verso. Codices could be opened flat at desired pages Codices were portable easily Codex started the concept of library because it had a stable spine to display the title (Source: Robert & Skeat, 1983) Codices of 15th and 16th Centuries Aztec codices are the books which were written during the pre-Columbians era. The pictorial description of these codices separates them from European codices (Elizabeth, 2006). In the following paragraphs, I produce a list with brief description of few famous codices of the 15th century. (i) Codex Borbonicus Codex Borbonicus was written by Aztec priests in pictorial form just after the Spanish Conquest of Mexico in 1520. It had three sections i.e. a divinatory calendar, 52 years cycle for mesoamerican showing the dates of first days of each of the 52 year cycle and a cycle of rituals (Miguel, 1990). (ii) Boturini Codex It was painted roughly between 1530 and 1541. It was also pictorial in nature that described the journey of Aztlán to the Valley of Mexico. The uniqueness of the codex is that the paintings are drawn with black color instead of colors. (iii) Codex Mendoza It was another pictorial document that developed in 1541. The codex illustrated the daily life of Aztec culture, history of Aztec rulers and their triumphs and a list of the tributary provinces. (iv) Florentine Codex Bernardino de Sahagun prepared this as a set of 12 books roughly from 1540 to 1585. Florentine codex was considered as the best source of Aztec life. Unfortunately, the codex was probably destroyed by the Spanish. (vi) Codex Cozcatzin It was created in 1572 and it consisted of 18 sheets i.e. 36 pages. It was also of pictorial in nature with short description in Spanish and Nahuatl. Development of Printing of Books Today’s printed books in codex form dates from the 15th century. Books printed prior to 15th century are known as incunables. The history tells us that a blacksmith Pi Cheng in the 11th century invented the first woodblock printing which could have been removed probably because of poor quality of ink. Soon after it, Japanese and Koreans did the same. However, by developing a printing press in 1440, Johannes Gutenberg took the books into an industrial era (Howsam, 2006). Soon after the entry of printing press, the European book did not remain a single object. It could have been written or reproduced several times. The printing press lowered the cost of a book tremendously as well as it provided a vast market for the distribution of the book. Gutenberg Bible was the first ever book that was printed with removable metal type in 1455. In English language, the first printed book was Recuyell of the Historyes of Troye that was published in 1475. The printed books era started in Denmark and Sweden in 1495. Conclusions The evolution of codex has a long history of different scenarios with several different phases. Starting from the ancient times to 15th century illustrates the evolution of codex in different formats. The history of variety of phases of codices in the form of scrolls to wax and clay tablets, papyrus, parchment etc to the invention of printing press, in fact, is a story of human creation to explore and distribute the knowledge throughout the world. Isidore of Seville, in the 7th century, explains the relationship of scroll, codex and book as this: “A codex is composed of many books; a book is of one scroll. It is called codex by way of metaphor from the trunks 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”. The modern era has made it difficult to anticipate the future of codex. New scientific inventions and especially the dominance of internet have changed the scene and trends of printing the book. Online encyclopedias have changed the trend of access of the books. The demand of electronic books is growing day by day. Amazon, Kindle, and Sony Reader are the main producer of electronic books which upgraded their released versions frequently. Apple has also joined this field and trying to become the leading producer of e-books. Although, internet is dominating the book industry, but despite of all facts, the importance of hard copy of books can never be minimized. The real students and researchers always look for books because it is only the codex book which increases their thrust. Works Cited Elizabeth Hill Boone (2006). Pictorial Documents and Visual Thinking in Postconquest Mexico. p. 158 Howsam, Leslie (2006). Old Books and New Histories: An orientation to studies in book and print culture. Toronto: University of Toronto Press Miguel, L. P. (1990). Aztec Thought and Culture; University of Oklahoma Press Robert, Colin & Skeat, T.C (1983). The Birth of the Codex, London: Oxford University Press, p. 5 Turner, E.G. (1977). The Typology of the Early Codex, University of Pennsylvania Press Philadelphia Appendix-I Egypt Papyrus (Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Egypt.Papyrus.01.jpg) Appendix-II Codex Mendoza (Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:CodexMendoza01.jpg) Appendix-III Codex Boturini (Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Aztlan_codex_boturini.jpg) Appendix-IV Codex Borbonicus (http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/13/Codex_Borbonicus%2C_p11_trecena13.PNG) Read More