Bound codex
Códice encuadernado
- Date
- c. 100 CE · confidence medium
- Place
- Rome, Italy
- Credited to
- Roman publishers (Martial mentions pocket parchment editions c. 85 CE); adopted by Christians
- Field
- Knowledge & symbols
What it is
A book of folded leaves sewn into gatherings between covers, as opposed to the scroll. It allows random access to any page, writing on both sides, indexes and much greater capacity.
The shift from scroll to codex was complete by the 4th century CE; 2nd-century Egyptian Christian papyri are the oldest examples.
What it led to
- Cross-referencing, indexes and pagination: non-linear reading and comparative study
- A single-volume biblical canon and the success of Christianity as a religion of the book
- The format of the printed and the modern book
- Compact libraries and portable texts
Built on
- Wax writing board (Uluburun diptych)c. 1310 BCE
- Parchmentc. 190 BCE
- Bound wax tablets (polyptych)
- Papyrus scroll
Made possible
- Systematic pharmacopoeia (Dioscorides' De materia medica)c. 65 CE
- Carolingian minusculec. 780-800
- Printed book
- index and pagination
- Single-volume Bible
- Bookbinding