The challenge of new technology

Ever been challenged by new technology? Well, this should make you feel better….

My source* tells me that the scroll gradually disappeared in favour of the codex between the second and fourth centuries. It was the Romans who first started to sewing together wax tablets for legal documents, gradually replacing the boards with parchment and thereby creating the objects that were the pre-cursor to the modern day book. The Christians really took to the codex, partly because it was cheaper than scrolls, more durable and allowed for numbered pages and a contents list which helped with accuracy when making copies, all important in a new religion.

*Ideas: A history from fire to Freud by Peter Watson