ge. While we are studying the processes and materials of a trade
by which we hope to gain a livelihood it is well to know something about
the men of the past whose accomplishments we inherit. To know something
about the men of another time who made this time possible, what they
did, what manner of men they were, how they lived, and what they created
for us, is the task of this and the following volumes in Part VIII of
this series.

CONTENTS

PAGE

CHAPTER I THE ORIGIN OF THE ALPHABET 1

CHAPTER II WRITING MATERIALS 9

CHAPTER III THE EVOLUTION OF THE BOOK 15

CHAPTER IV MAKING THE MANUSCRIPTS 20

CHAPTER V ANCIENT AND MEDIAEVAL LIBRARIES 27

CHAPTER VI THE DAWN OF A NEW ERA 37

BOOKS BEFORE TYPOGRAPHY

CHAPTER I

_The Origin of the Alphabet_

The story of printing really begins with the earliest dawn of
civilization. As soon as men developed a language, even of the simplest
sort, they felt the necessity of a means of communication with those who
were not present. This would be needed for the identification of
property, the making of records, the sending of orders or information,
the making of appointments, and many other purposes which would be
developed by the needs of even the most rudimentary civilization. We
accordingly find evidences of devices to accomplish these ends
associated with the earliest human remains. While the cave man was
disputing food and shelter with the cave bear, the sabre-tooth tiger,
and the mammoth in those places which are now the seats of the most
advanced civilizations, he scratched or painted outline sketches of the
animals he fought, and perhaps worshipped, on the wall of a cave or on
the flat surface of a spreading antler or a piece of bone.

[Illustration: The oldest known attempt to carve a picture. It dates
from the cave period and was found at Dordogne, France.]

One of the greatest single steps in civilization was the advance from
the use of rough stone implements and weapons to the use of chipped and
finished stones for the same purpose, commonly referred to as the
transition from the paleolithic to the neolithic age. Just how long ago
that was no one knows and only geologists can guess. Among remains
dating from this period of transition found in the little village of Mas
d'Azil in France, there hav