Understanding McLuhan/Understanding McLuhan (1996)(Voyager)[Mac-PC].iso/pc/mcluhan.dxr/08911_Field_TCGG T676.txt

Text File | 1996-04-10 | 921b | 16 lines

mentions in Ancilla to Classical Learning  (p. 7) that: “Papyrus
made into rolls continued to be the regular material for books
until the introduction, mainly by Christians for the convenience
of having the Gospels in a single volume, of the codex form and
hence of vellum which is more suitable to that form.” He adds:

     the codex, which is in effect the modern book, consisting
     of leaves arranged in quires, is obviously more compact
     than a roll. . . . could be reduced to the convenient size of
     a pocket edition, and that advantage is usually taken to
     explain the general adoption of the codex form by
     Christians in the fourth century . . . but through the third
     century the great majority of pagan remains are in rolls,
     while the great majority of Christian works are in codex
     form. The usual size of the codex was about 10 by 7
     inches.