Unit 2

HISTORY OF BOOKS

I Pre-reading. Why is the invention of the printing press one of the most important
discoveries that humanity has ever made?

II Reading
Task 1 Read the text From Papyrus to Paperbacks and do the reading comprehension
task below.

From Papyrus to Paperbacks

1. Ever since the ancient Babylonians and Egyptians began experimenting with alphabets
some five thousand years ago, people have found ways to preserve their written symbols.
Initially, pictorial symbols and letters appeared on wood strips or clay tablets, tied or
stacked together to form the first "books." As early as 2400 B.C., the Egyptians wrote on
papyrus (from which the word paper is derived) made from plant reeds found along the
Nile River. They rolled these writings in scrolls, much as builders do today with
blueprints. This method was adopted by the Greeks in 650 B.C. and by the Romans (who
imported the papyrus from Egypt) from 300 to 100 B.C.

2. Around 1000 B.C., the Chinese made book like objects from strips of wood and
bamboo tied together in bundles. About the time the Egyptians started using papyrus, the
Babylonians began pressing symbols and marks into small tablets of clay. These stacked
tablets recorded business transactions, government records, favorite stories, and local
history. Gradually, parchment—treated animal skin—replaced papyrus. Parchment was
stronger, smoother, more durable, and less expensive because it did not have to be
imported from Egypt.

3. Although the Chinese began making paper in A.D. 105, paper made by hand from
cotton and linen did not replace parchment in Europe until the thirteenth century. Paper
was not as strong as parchment, but it was cheaper. The first postmodern book was
probably produced in the fourth century by the Romans, who created the codex, a type of
book cut into sheets of parchment and sewn together along the edge, then bound with thin
pieces of wood and covered with feather. Whereas scroll had to be wound, unwound, and
rewound, codices could be opened to any page, and, their configuration allowed writing
on both sides of a page.

1
4. During the Middle Ages (A.D. 400 to 1500), the Christian clergy strongly influenced
what has become known as manuscript culture, a period in which books were
painstakingly lettered, decorated, and bound by hand. During this time, priests and monks
advanced the art of bookmaking; in many ways, they may be considered the earliest
professional editors. Known as scribes, they "wrote" most of the books of this period,
making copies of existing philosophical tracts and religious books, especially versions of
the Bible. Through tedious and painstaking work, scribes became the chief caretakers of
recorded history and culture.

5. Many works from the Middle Ages were illuminated manuscripts. These books
featured decorative, colorful designs and illustrations on each page. Their covers were
made from leather, and some were inscribed with precious gems or gold and silver trim.
During this period, scribes developed rules of punctuation and made distinctions between
small and capital letters; they also put space between words, which made reading easier.
Older Roman writing had used all capital letters, and words ran together on a page,
making reading a torturous experience.

6. The oldest printed book still in existence is China's Diamond Sutra by Wang Chieh,
from A.D. 868. It consists of seven sheets pasted together and rolled up in a scroll. To
make copies of pages, early Chinese printers developed block printing, a technique using
sheets of paper applied to a block of inked wood with raised surfaces in hand-carved
letters and sketches. This constituted the basic technique used in printing newspapers,
magazines, and books throughout much of modern history. Although hand-carving each
block, or "page," was time-consuming, this printing breakthrough enabled multiple
copies to be produced and then bound together. In 1295, explorer Marco Polo introduced
these techniques to Europe after his excursion to China. The first handmade printed
books appeared in Europe during the 1400s, and demand for them began to grow among
the literate middle-class populace emerging in large European cities.

7. The next step in printing was the radical development of movable type, first invented
in China around the year 1000. Movable type featured Chinese characters made from
reusable pieces of wood or metal. Printers arranged or moved letters into various word
combinations, greatly speeding up the time it took to make a page. This process, also
used in Korea as early as the thirteenth century, developed independently in Europe in the
1400s.Then, in Germany, between 1453 and 1456, Johannes Gutenberg used movable
type to develop a printing press, which he adapted from a wine press. Gutenberg's staff of
printers produced the first so-called modern books, including two hundred copies of a
Latin Bible, twenty-one copies of which still exist. The Bible required six presses, many
printers, and several months to produce. It was printed on fine handmade paper, a treated
animal skin called vellum. The pages were hand-decorated, and the use of woodcuts
made illustrations possible.

2
8. Essentially, Gutenberg and his printing assistants had not only found a way to carry
knowledge across geographic borders but had also formed the prototype for mass
production. Printing presses spread rapidly across Europe in the late 1400s and early
1500s Chaucer's Canterbury Tales became the first English work to be printed in book
form. Many early books were large, elaborate, and expensive, taking months to illustrate
and publish. They were usually purchased by aristocrats, royal families, religious leaders,
and ruling politicians. Printers, however, gradually reduced the size of books and
developed less expensive grades of paper, making books cheaper so more people could
afford them.

9. The social and cultural transformations ushered in by the spread of printing presses and
books cannot be overestimated. As historian Elizabeth Eisenstein has noted, when people
could learn for themselves by using maps, dictionaries, Bibles, and the writings of others,
they could differentiate themselves as individuals; their social identities were no longer
solely dependent on what their leaders told them or on the habits of their families,
communities, or social class. The technology of printing presses permitted information
and knowledge to spread outside local jurisdictions. Gradually, individuals had access to
ideas far beyond their isolated experiences, and this permit led them to challenge the
traditional wisdom and customs of their tribes and leaders.

(adapted from Media & Culture, pp. 349-351)

III Reading comprehension

Task 1 Sum up the main ideas of the paragraphs 2-9. The first one has been done.

1. ____First “books”/The use of papyrus_________________________

2. ________________________________________________________
3. ________________________________________________________
4. ________________________________________________________
5. ________________________________________________________
6. ________________________________________________________
7. ________________________________________________________
8. ________________________________________________________
9. ________________________________________________________

IV Vocabulary in context
Task 1 Using the context clues, circle the most appropriate meaning of the choices given.
The paragraph numbers are given in brackets to help you find the words in the text.

3
1) stacked (1)
a) piled
b) pulled
c) glued

2) scrolls (l)
a) rolls of cloth
b) rolls of papyrus
c) rolls of cotton

3) bound (3)
a) moved
b) limited
c) fastened

4) wound (3)
a) damaged
b) twisted
c) reduced

5) lettered (4)
a) written
b) printed
c) received

6) featured (5)
a) enabled
b) included
c) feathered

7) carved (6)
a) illustrated
b) written
c) cut

8) movable type (7)

a) flying class
b) mobile block
c) moral character

4
 9) elaborate (8)
a) plain
b) sophisticated
c) interesting

10) ushered in (9)

a) made sth bad begin
b) made sth new begin
c) made sth planned begin

Task 2 Use the words covered in Task 1 to fill in the gaps in the sentences below. Make
any grammatical changes if necessary.

1) My parents have a leather-____________ volume of Shakespeare's plays.

2) This statue is _____________ from a single block of marble.
3) The exhibition _________________ paintings by Picasso.
4) The discovery of oil ________________ an era of employment and prosperity.
5) The assistants price the items and _____________ them on the shelves.

Task 3 Read the text From Papyrus to Paperbacks again and find the names of the
materials used as writing media (e.g. wood strips). What were their features or qualities?
What are their Croatian equivalents?

Task 4 Find the corresponding English expressions in the text for the Croatian
expressions listed below. The paragraph numbers are given in brackets.

 usvojiti metodu (1)

 uvezati u svežanj (2)
 usavršiti vještinu pravljenja knjiga (4)
 razviti pravila (5)
 uvesti tehnike (6)
 prenositi znanje (8)
 smanjiti veličinu knjiga (8)
 ne može biti dovoljno istaknuta (9)
 isključivo ovisna (9)

Task 5 The expressions in the box below refer to different book types throughout the
history. The author of the text often provides the direct definition of a difficult word.
Look back at the reading, find the definitions or comparisons explaining the meaning of
the words in the box and underline them.

5
 scroll, manuscript, codex, illuminated manuscript, block-printed book

Task 6 Using the vocabulary covered in the previous tasks, translate the following
paragraph into English.

Samo pedesetak godina nakon izuma tiskarskog stroja u Senju se pojavila skupina ljudi
koja je shvatila važnost ovog izuma. Jedan od njih bio je i Blaž Baromić, jedna od
najvažnijih osoba hrvatske kulturne povijesti. On je 1493. u Veneciji tiskao brevijar koji
nosi njegovo ime. Sačuvano je pet primjeraka njegova brevijara: dva u Nacionalnoj i
sveučilišnoj knjižnici u Zagrebu, te po jedan primjerak u Državnoj knjižnici u Münchenu,
knjižnici Parma u Schwarzau (Austria) te u Sibiu (Rumunjska). Nakon tiskanja brevijara
Baromić se vratio u Senj te već sljedeće godine nabavio sve potrebne strojeve za
ustrojstvo tiskare. Prvo i najvrjednije djelo Senjske tiskare je Misal. Misal je knjiga u
kojoj su skupljeni svi tekstovi što se upotrebljavaju kod mise za cijelu liturgijsku godinu.

(adapted from http://www.tz-senj.hr/glagoljica-senjska-tiskara)

V Vocabulary development
Task 1 Different verbs reflect different writing styles. Match the underlined words in the
following sentences with their definitions below.

1) Jane scribbled her address in my notebook, but I couldn’t decipher her

sloppy handwriting later on.
2) Let me jot down your number and I'll call you tomorrow.
3) I have to write up my essay before the next tutorial.
4) Brad was doodling on a sheet of paper instead of taking notes.
5) You cannot write down every word your lecturer says.

a) to draw shapes, lines, or patterns without really thinking about what you are doing
b) to write something on a piece of paper
c) to write a report, article etc using notes that you made earlier
d) to write something quickly and untidily
e) to write a short piece of information quickly
(source:
Task 2 In pairs, find the odd one out in each set of the words below. Give explanations
for your decisions.

a) compelling/evocative/compulsive/controversial/breathtaking reading

6
 b) boring/remarkable/lightweight/heavy going/dull reading
c) editor/proofreader/monitor/reviewer/citric
d) higher education textbooks/ bookworm/ mass market paperbacks/
professional books/ reference books
e) shop/title/shelf/club/pocket

Task 3 Use one word from each set in the Task 3 to make your own sentences referring to
the books.

VI Speaking
Task 1 What do you think that the following quotes mean? Discuss in pairs.

a) “All books are divisible into two classes, the books of the hour, and the books of
all time.” (John Ruskin, British philosopher)
b) “Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed
and digested.” (Francis Bacon, British philosopher and essayist)
c) “If you cannot enjoy reading a book over and over again, there is no use in
reading it at all.” (Oscar Wild, Irish writer)
d) “We read to know we are not alone.” (C. S. Lewis, British scholar and novelist)
e) “We should be as careful of the books we read, as of the company we keep. The
dead very often have more power than the living.” (Tryon Edwards, American
theologian)

Task 2 Talking about books often means putting them into different categories. There are
numerous categorizations of literary genres. The most common categorization
distinguishes two main categories of books: fiction and nonfiction. In pairs, compare the
names of some English genres below with their Croatian equivalents.

Nonfiction: autobiography, biography, essays, informational text

Fiction: drama, fable, fairy tales, fantasy, folklore, historical fiction, horror, humor,
legend, mystery, poetry, science fiction, short story

In small groups, discuss your favorite literary genres and give reasons for your choice.

Task 3 Compare traditional, paper books and e-books and point out advantages and
disadvantages of both media.

VII Grammar: Modal Verbs and Infinitives in Passive Voice (Oxford Grammar for EAP,
p. 85)

7
8