Chapter I: Front Matter

[ Transcriber's Note:
Every effort has been made to replicate this text as faithfully as
possible, including inconsistencies in spelling and hyphenation;
changes (corrections of spelling and punctuation) made to the
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Italic text has been marked with _underscores_.
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]

THE STORY OF BOOKS

The Useful Knowledge Library

PLANT LIFE. By Grant Allen.

ARCHITECTURE. By P. L. Waterhouse.

THE STARS. By G. F. Chambers, F.R.A.S.

THE SOLAR SYSTEM. By George F. Chambers, F.R.A.S.

FOREST AND STREAM. By James Rodway.

THE MIND. By Prof. J. M. Baldwin.

THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD. By the Rev. E. D. Price, F.G.S.

EXTINCT CIVILIZATIONS OF THE EAST. By Robert E. Anderson, M.A., F.A.S.

THE CHEMICAL ELEMENTS. By M. M. Pattison Muir, M.A.

A PIECE OF COAL. By E. A. Martin.

THE EARTH IN PAST AGES. By H. G. Seeley, F.R.S.

BIRD-LIFE. By W. P. Pycraft.

GEOGRAPHICAL DISCOVERY. By Joseph Jacobs.

PRIMITIVE MAN. By Edward Clodd.

THOUGHT AND FEELING. By Frederick Ryland, M.A.

THE BRITISH RACE. By John Munro.

GERM LIFE. By H. W. Conn.

ANIMAL LIFE. By B. Lindsay.

COTTON PLANT. By F. Wilkinson, F.G.S.

ECLIPSES. By G. F. Chambers, F.R.A.S.

ELECTRICITY. By J. Munro.

WEATHER. By G. F. Chambers, F.R.A.S.

WILD FLOWERS. By Rev. Prof. Henslow.

LONDON: HODDER AND STOUGHTON

THE
STORY OF BOOKS

BY
GERTRUDE BURFORD RAWLINGS

Author of "The Story of the British Coinage"

HODDER AND STOUGHTON
PUBLISHERS, LONDON

CONTENTS

CHAP. PAGE

I. Introductory 9

II. The Preservation of Literature 13

III. Books and Libraries in Classical Times 26

IV. Books in Mediæval Times 36

V. Libraries in Mediæval Times 56

VI. The Beginning of Printing 70

VII. Who Invented Moveable Types? 81

VIII. Gutenberg and the Mentz Press 89

IX. Early Printing 103

X. Early Printing in Italy and some other Countries 110

XI. Early Printing in England 118

XII. Early Printing in Scotland 131

XIII. Early Printing in Ireland 138

XIV. Book Bindings 144

XV. How a Modern Book is Produced 159

Postscript 164

Index 166

ILLUSTRATIONS

Early Printers at Work Frontispiece

PAGE

Page from the Book of Kells 38

Part of Page from the Book of Kells 39

Page from the Lindisfarne Gospels 44

Page from the Biblia Pauperum 76

Type of the Mentz Indulgence 95

Page from the Mazarin Bible 98

Type of the Mazarin Bible 99

Type of the Subiaco Lactantius 111

Type of the Aldine Virgil, 1501 114

Type of Caxton's Dictes or Sayengis of the Philosophres,
Westminster, 1477 123

Boys Learning Grammar 125

Caxton's Device 127

Type of Wynkyn de Worde's Higden's Polychronicon, London, 1495 129

Myllar's Device 132

Title Page of O'Kearney's Irish Alphabet and Catechism 140

Upper Cover of Melissenda's Psalter 149

THE STORY OF BOOKS