book is closely connected with other great inventions of ancient times - written, paper, ink.How did the first book and what a - more about this further.
definition and origin of the word
book in the modern sense of the word - a special kind of products, consisting of separate pages or sheets on which printing or cursive method applied any information.
On Slavonic language it was called "kniga".Presumably, the word was borrowed from the ancient Turkic languages.It meant "the scroll."
When the first book?The answer to this question requires an examination of the conditions without which it could not occur.First of all - this is the material for the creation of records (paper) and a means for storing information (in writing).Only after their appearance and began the history books.
Writing
book contains any information.To record it, we need the following conditions: possession of script and writing material.In ancient times people used the oral transmission of knowledge.When they were little, this way of approaching.But the accumulation of information needed to find a new means for transmission and storage.So people invented writing.Now all people know about the world, you can burn, thus saving valuable knowledge for future generations.
How did the book?This is one of the most interesting questions in the history of mankind.Respond to it is difficult because the main condition for the appearance of books - writing, was born almost at the same time in ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt.However, the palm in this matter, scientists give the Sumerians, believing that it is Mesopotamia (Mesopotamia) was the first country where there was a script.
What is written in the ancient times?
How did the book?Important role in this played a writing material.Each civilization, opening its way to record information, has become used to store the knowledge of a variety of things: the stems of plants, leaves, clay tablets, the bark of a tree and metal.
plates - the most ancient writing material.They were of two kinds of wax and clay.Latest for strength usually baked, and to make changes to the text after it was no longer possible.Wax plates allows you to erase the label and apply a new one.They were used in ancient Mesopotamia and Rome.
scrolls made of papyrus stems, first used by the ancient Egyptians.Then, this kind of paper began to be used for writing the Phoenicians and later the Greeks acquainted with him.For a long time the scrolls were used as a fairly comfortable material for records.Due to the fragile papyrus could not bend, but it could collapse into long strips, which was conveniently stored on the shelves.In addition, the ink is easily washed off with papyrus, and it can be reused.
When the first book - what science says?
inscription in the ancient stones, rocks, animal bones, the book can not be called.These were individual statements rather than text.But according to information obtained during the archaeological research, the emergence of the first books dates back to antiquity.Externally, they are very different from their modern counterparts.
first books appeared in the III millennium BC.e.in ancient Mesopotamia.Fired clay tablets stacked in wooden boxes, each of which represents a separate "book".In ancient Rome, 2-4 plates bonded together, and receive the code (the book) of several "sheets".
How did the first book in the Middle Ages?
long time papyrus scrolls were widespread.But they were short-lived, and indeed the papyrus in Egypt is becoming increasingly rare plant.With the advent of Christianity to sacred texts needed a more durable and easy to handle material.They became a parchment made from the skin of animals.Most often used for its production of the skins of goats, sheep and calves.Parchment can be bent without fear of damage.Over time, it began to make books.
first books of the Middle Ages is almost no different from the modern form.They consist of multiple pages and have a cover.Such books were very expensive.It makes one took up to 500 animal skins and 2-3 years of work of scribes and artists.They are often decorated with expensive salary of gold and precious stones.
How did the book in Russia?As for our country, it has its own history of occurrence of the first manuscripts and texts.Traditional material for writing in the XI-XV centuries there was a birch-bark scroll.They were first discovered in large quantities in Veliky Novgorod in the early XX century.
Birch cheap material was unstable and was used mainly for private correspondence.More important documents written on parchment.
Typography - A new page in the history book appeared
Manuscripts were expensive, and afford to have their homes could only very rich people.In the Middle Ages people holding the diploma was negligible.They were mostly monks, scholars and officials government officials (scribes).
In the VIII century in Europe appeared the first universities.States need a large number of educated people.But the students could not afford to buy expensive tomes.Most often, the book had only a professor who lectures, and the students had to memorize it.
the time in China and in the East, has already been used woodcut - print on fabric.But this method was expensive, because the fabric itself was expensive.
In Europe, with the advent of paper at the beginning of the XV century was invented printing using movable type.Traditionally, the first to open the way to the production of books by Johann Gutenberg.In fact, patterned fonts already applied to it in various European countries.The ingenious invention of Gutenberg was to create a printing press.
When printed books appeared, it became possible to disseminate knowledge not only among the privileged classes, the nobility, the clergy and representatives of science.Gradually the book by using the machine became available to the rest of the population.
When the first book printed in Russia?This momentous event occurred in 1564.Before that, the country will certainly have penetrated this kind tomes, not by scribes and machine.Such books were no longer news in Russia at the time of the creation of its first printing.
first Russian printed book was the "Apostle" - a real masterpiece, created by Ivan Fedorov and Petr Mstislavets.
Afterword
question, how did the book is always relevant, and more than one child will ask him in school or at home.Books, supporting knowledge, change over time.Now they can listen to or read the electronic version, but they are still with us.
