Post #1935388

TIL, using book-books (codexes) for important texts was a Christian innovation and was there from the start (it's even mentioned in biblical epistles). Books existed at the time, but were used for things we'd use note books or journals for today, note taking, accounts, etc. Everything important was done on a scroll. But not Christian texts: they were all books right from the start. Translating cultures, it was all basically a series of scribbled-in "notepads" passed around and copied. No one is quite sure why (there are, of course, many theories, or the direction of causation). My favourite (the one I'm most convinced by) is that it was just aesthetic, functioning as a differentiator and in-group signifier.