|
Any kind of book can be destroyed. Clay tablets have proven to be more durable than Vellum (calfskin), parchment (other skins), paper (tree, plant or rag or mixture), papyrus, hard drives or Flash memory.
Modern paper may rot due the beaching process. Skin keep better than paper. Papyrus isn't good, yet was still used after the Chinese invented paper reached Mediterranean.
However Flash memory is less durable than an HDD in a drawer. Or paper.
The book was invented over 2000 years ago, because bound leaves (unlike a scroll) allows both sides to be easily used and random access. AKA Codex. It's a backward step that web sites don't paginate to fit the window, as a website does to selected paper size on print preview.
Clay tablets for one story must have a collective name?
Also in theory Cuneiform based clay tablets can be copied. Make a mother from soft clay, dry, fire and press into soft clay. I've not seen any evidence it was done. The first movable type was in China. He made clay symbols and fired them. Then put wax in a tray. Set the page and placed board with weight on top. Warmed it at fire so as faces were level and tiles stuck in. Then inked and printed. They also had more durable paper than rice paper.
Printing existed in Europe long before Caxton or Gutenberg, but it was all engraved. No moveable type. Later printing went back to that but using light, chemicals and acid. Then a scanning laser to cut the plate on a drum.
Stencils were also used for about 80 years. Cut by had or typewriter. Then from 1960s a thermal copier. I had a drum stencil maker that was enormous. You fastened stencil on one end of drum and original on the other. It spun and the photocell and lamp was on on the same screw shaft as a high voltage spark generator. Fax was invented in 1851 and originally was a similar principle.
I have a massive 32 ppm full colour duplex laser printer. But I print books to a Kobo Libra to proof.
I used to print entire books in the 1990s and it's no fun binding.
|