Is it just anything that stores and communicates information?

Or does it have to do with paper,

binding, font, ink,

Its weight in your hand,

the smell of the pages?

Is this a book?

Probably not.

But is this?

To answer those questions,

We need to go back to the start of the book as we know it and

understand how these elements came together to make something

more than some of their parts.

The earliest object that we think of as a book is the codex.

A stack of pages bound along one edge.

But the real turing point in book history was

Johannes Guttenberg's printing press in the mid-15th century.

The cooncept of movable type had been invented much earlier in Eastern culture.

But the introduction of the Guttenberg's press had a profound effect.

Suddenly, elite class of the monks and the ruling class

no longer control the production of texts.

Messages can spread more easily

and copies can constantly be produced.

So printing houses pop out all over Europe.

The products of this bibliography boom is familiar to us in some aspects

But remarketablely different in others.

The skeleton of a book is papers and type, and cover.

More than 2000 years ago, China invented paper as ,

Which preceded the invention of the Egyptian papyrus.

However, until the 16th century

Europeans were writing on wooden planks skinny

The chips were made from animal skins after stretching.

In the end, the paper spread in popularity throughout Europe,

Thus replacing leather chips being less expensive if produced in large quantities.

Produced ink collects organic pigments of plants and animals

With water or wine,

But the fact that the water is not bonded to the metal letters

It may require the use of printing presses and replaced inks based on oil.

Inks used presses resulted from mixing soot lamps

And turpentine

And walnut oil.

And what about the font size and type?

Printing cut the first animation was a mirrored lettering

Grouped together on the alloy made of lead afternoon.

It is made by hand and are expensive

The Altsmamam different things to different people who have with making.

Mass manufacturing has allowed the possibility of applying uniform sizes

And establish a system for word processing easy access to him.

The method, we can thank (Nicholas Johnson) to develop two types of Roman Line

And that led to thousands of others,

Including the familiar line (Times Roman).

You must use something to collect the papers together

Until the end of the 15th century

The wraps off a timber

Or leaves a group cemented together.

In the end, the use of fiber ropes for the manufacture of cardboard

It was commonly used in luxury binding at the end of the 17th century

But recently it used a less expensive option.

While the wraps produced significantly contain illustrations for marketing,

The first casings manufactured according to the desire and demand

The book even has a history heel.

It was not considered important at the outset aesthetically

The first designs were flat instead of round

The flat design make the books easier to read

Through individual book easily on the table.

But those heels books were being damaged as a result of pressure normal use

The circular design to solve that problem

Despite the emergence of other new problems

The book closes on itself.

But flexibility was more important,

Especially for readers who are always moving between pages.

With the development of books and replace coated texts

Flat screens and electronic inks,

Do these things and files are considered real books?

Do you sense the coat

Or the smell of the paper adds an important factor for the experience?

Or is the magic lies in words only