, 1874-08-29
FAMILIAR Z TALK.


| =. "so'ua VI tHo l!Apyi]lS plAntt Bpeclg0
" " sedgo, which grow 'tb lilo holght OF or
10 foot: It is supposed 10 hayo boon intro
aaeou into Egypt from Syria or Abyssinia. II
grow IN pools Of; still wator, dr,d for conturiea
furnished not only tic Egyptians, but Tho Gre6kB
anu tho Romans, with tib. staple for their writ
ing paper: The atolnn ot The pApyrih wtro olton,
attho baso, aB largo as mans urn. Outwarlly
tlley Wcfo like common rual, and III Tho In
'oslor tbeV consisted of whitc; coupact
rltll. Surrounding this, asd next tic outer.
ski'. wcro number Of thin policies. lyiur
ono above tho other. or these tho papyrua wns
1nalo. Tlloy wore laid si1e by side, with t),er
edges overlapping. md in layers placed crose.
Wise, until tlle, dcslsod thickness was eocureJ.
tloy then were subjected to proasuro, and aftor.
wards dried in tho Ht,n. THO shoots could be
inaao mn; e,t of a,,y lenRth by Joining tllom end to
tliat tho gt,io for the pnrpose wnH ob,aincd from
tho Milo wator, which Kdt1 glutnonB probortIea
btlt tt.ls III ofronco,is.. Tho Nile .watcr haa No
aatoatro quality, md tho only gum used in
nislesl by tho molnbfanos themselves, ugod in
frosll stnto.
When nowly prepared, Tho napsrsa WIS whito
sna iIts1o'n bat With aKo Il grow brown and OK
esssssss sasss Se ss among RystSs sSs 1s afeos not n II
aftor tho time Of Alexander tito Grant,
aMt u was ALWAYS an expensive article to thon,
coating at tue rate Of a dollar sheet. Among
tie Hot1anst papyr'ta yaan not introduced ut 4
dro 'said to hayo been wti{ton OH Ii. rarchnont
was the nlatertal commonly employed In botl
Greeco ind 1some fot THO rfanliFact,ito of
bools and rolls, both bdfdro anl aftcr papyrlis
9eeafno nli article Of oxtonsltc import from
Writing was..sxceutol on ono side only Of tlis
papyr,'B, IN coluinEH four ur 1.-Two fingors broad,
VT with blank spaco Of . ttnger'A widtl bctwoc,.
lao pen nsdd was made OF reed {cn1atnuR), OF
EBvbt., Tho lux was vorf di1rabio. Wien tho
whiting was eoticluded, Ito rapyrua waa wound
round small cylinder Of roller, wliel, IN Latin
waB called SoEsn'cn; hotto tho English word vol
stained with aaffron or cstlar.oll. THO tttlo was
Ttltten On "trip, or q, klnd Of ticket, and
the a!ithor was allixed to tl,e first column or in
Gigs o!oseu within tho case e parehniout or wood
When Roman author 9ishol to bring out un
edition Of hiB work. acopY OF It was given to tho
tranacrlbora. who woro equivalent to our modern
nrlntars. Whilo OHIO rssh tho original aloud,
&tote on Tho papyfuH-slrols to lis tiietstton
atu THUS the number Of t0pes waa multiplied
From tho hands OF tho transcriuors tho paprri
we're passed to tho artists, wllo ornanaenfed
Ihem With fancitul titlosf margins, and tormina-
t;ons. Tho rolls wero t1|n finished By tho book
In tho tilnosof Augustus, thcso books woro
very plentiful and cheat. Martial informs ,,g
that copy Of ha thirtceith book (fonrtcon svo.
nusnni (abont 3d.; and that It could be- sold
for half that Runl, Rnd yst yield profit. .Io
alao sayH thnta copy Of lis hrut book (swonty-
nine ocsayo l'agoa Of 1npthrn print) was Hold for
,s ael,.an' , lapont ss. o19 The reason for this
elayes, cheaply fed aid A.sl worked, aul mallv
could transcribo from aBingle dtctation, In |
THOSE days, rs now, 1srgor editions were
ona o1t9 idp pF94nsd tan eoa be diypoaed
apfces.' pliny atatca tim, q certain Rcgulus,
WHO wrote n biography Of kinlsoIf and his son.
had oo0 copies Of Il distributed through Italyy
l.nd the PROVINCES. Nero sscurod a liberal cir
cuatlon for his veraes By commanding copies to
bo given to schoo1hoya M examples for st,1dy.
II is not known wien tho claineo from, tic roll
to THO modern boo!s-form took placc. ar.
Humphreys, y In big IT,. "Art Of Printing" sayh:
began to prevail In Ro,uo iii imitation OF tho
Eabeta used for rrivaso memoranda, which woro
It T. tifst wased plates OF metnl within d cover
moro or loss DECORATED, and protected By raised
;aGea anese tablets were aftcrwsra displaced by
o tlie number Of tlto OF si1. snch tablets, With
II riclly.covored ivory cases, wero, during tlio
'eriod OF tho Eastotn Empire, proyontol to Con-
ms. or other high fnnctiotlaries oil their nonil-
oAAsS1s 14fGlkuullS IL DEEGt49 CUSTOMARY
or private persons to present each other NTH
ah!ets, often witt, complimentary poons ready
written ON tho leayos Of vol[ltm,-tlie covers mi
rally becoming objects for decorative e,nbellis-
aont: ~; hmasi M nooSs Of poems may have been
'repaseo Tor Sale ~ the Bae way as tho old rolled
of!a did not afford such scope for decoration az
he pair Of panels Which inc!osed and protected
l,o .osa tablets. ct This form of book probably
rose re- u, the =, East shortly before
1uQnlG tim hG NH fs.l, !
ata of that kind wcro distinguished was tbo
ireek term MptYch Tho period Which may bo
ssigued FOR the gonera! adoption Of tho BqI,are
or!n for certain books. Which were at first dis
ar!ler than tho fonrtl, century, Toro ls cow 1ao,
t Virgil in tho Vatican ibrary which INV Ia I
on0!dered ono OF tile oldeat existing mo,,,,monts
book " tits form. It has been assigned BY
robao!g belongs to tho nso Of Cohhtaritino'. Il
ny ratio, It Is relic or 1lo.nan 1lapdicraft
heii tao language OF Virgil was fliIl tho Ian
nnee T. o. Kome, aH IL shown by the costunoy, /
nd All tho accessories Of the Illustrations, which,
ere evidently: executed WHOM I,on1an dross and
nnl'elH prevailed IN Isaly." I
DurinE the middle "ages. books we're wrtton
Flncipnliy upon parchment. which was prepared
d ino bxnn h4oag od g0ats sheep deer othor
hieh was discovered by tho Chinese alont n,h H.
Of the Christian orr. had henn ,
troauccu into Europe by tho Arabs in the
NTH century, it was very slow III coming fnto
10 especially in England. The monks. partic. {
arly' tho Dencdictincs, learnod ani intlna,
ioi'A body, were almost tlso solo transciihnra I
ec!l principal monastory Ind it's scriptoy;,tn ~
J apat tment furuhlsed with desks aud forms
hero tho oopylsts pursued their tedious lahora'
tho head of tho department was thn r
,ma'ium, whoso b,,sinoss it was TN ~
ko charge of tho library and overlook tho
ork, of hook-making. Tho writing was cnm. M \
'sed Of dstinctIy-formod ettora n IN old ohar. r
ter, and tho lines mud pages wore kent ovan 1
ID regular by menna OF previous ruling. h Thn
bor. Of manufacturing books was diy;aoI. y
mo of tho nonta being devoted oxclusvo1v -
nscrlblng: others to tho duty of ornamenti,@ @
q still otlera'to tho work of binding H.,
lnnles. s' ene
III many instAncoB tho works were c1ccont,, +
ibel'lshou with pictorial illustrations mn, % II 81
nihatod letters at tho beginning OF ohantara - ~
no IL brilliant watar-e0lora and lenc.rnl: -
.ilo their bindings. Of velvet or laathnr Snro
coiated with precious stones and dorifcea win IN
:htll eontuy, A1cn ono Of tbc % mast Il inneD teo 70
'!1a monks Of lts time. spent twcntv.two r"a',,
lk!ng copy OF the Bible for Oliarlemaeno J.,
q yoi''mo III now IN tho British Museum bnv. In
bnHn rnrthnSnI Fnn r1e nav | ~