and in the new and it
remained until largely swept away by the movement which culminated in
the French Revolution of 1793.

Some of the university libraries early grew to generous size. That of
the Sorbonne, for example, numbered 1720 volumes in 1338. This
particular library consisted very largely of religious literature, as
the main interest of the Sorbonne of that day was theological. Other
university libraries were of wider range. Many of the old university
libraries are yet in existence.

CHAPTER VI

_The Dawn of a New Era_

Methods of inscribing words or characters upon vellum or other writing
material other than by the toilsome process of handwriting had long been
in existence. Among the oldest of human remains are stamps and seals for
the impression of symbols, words, or signatures upon plastic substances,
as the impression of a signet or seal is now made on sealing wax
softened by heat. Originally these seals were incised so that the
impression was left in raised characters on the receiving substance, as
is now usually the case with seals and signets. Later the designs were
sometimes cut in relief so that the figure resulting from the impression
was not raised in the substance but pressed into it. From this it was
but a step to put some coloring substance on the raised part of the seal
or die and so print it on an unyielding surface such as vellum or
papyrus, as hand stamps are now used for a great variety of purposes.
Documents were signed in this way by persons who were either too
illiterate to write their names or too occupied with business to take
the time to sign the great numbers of documents which were brought
before them. The peculiar characteristics of the Chinese alphabet early
prompted this inventive people to the use of these types, for such these
devices were. The Chinese are said to have used movable types made of
porcelain at a very early period. The use of the seal or the stamp
bearing a single letter naturally led to its enlargement and to the
inclusion of more than one letter on the same stamp. As early as the 6th
century the Chinese were printing books from wooden plates on which were
cut in relief all the characters which were to appear upon a single
leaf. This was nothing more or less than our modern stereotype plate,
excepting that it was carved by hand on wood instead of being made of
metal by a mechanical process. There is, however, no evidence whatever
connecting these Chin