A codex (Latin for block of wood, book;
plural codices) is a book in the format used for modern books, with separate pages normally bound together and given a
cover. It was a Roman invention that replaced the scroll, which was the first form of book in all
Eurasian cultures.
Although technically any modern paperback is a codex, the term is only used for
manuscript (hand-written) books, produced from Late
Antiquity through the Middle Ages. The scholarly study of manuscripts from the point of view of the bookmaking craft is called codicology. The study of ancient documents in general is called paleography.
New World codices were written as late as the sixteenth century (see Maya codices and Aztec codices). Those written before the Spanish
conquests seem all to have been single long sheets folded concertina-style, sometimes written
on both sides of the local amatl paper. They are therefore strictly speaking not actually in codex
format, although they more consistently have "Codex" in their usual names than other types of manuscript.
The codex was an improvement upon the scroll, which it gradually replaced, first in the West, and much later in Asia. The
codex in turn became the printed book, for which the term is not
used. In China, because books were already printed, but only on one side of the paper, there were intermediate stages, such as scrolls folded concertina-style and
pasted together at the back.[1]
History
The Romans used similar precursors made of reusable wax-covered tablets of wood for taking notes and other informal writings.
The first recorded use of the codex for literary works dates from the late first century AD,
when Martial experimented with the format. At that time the scroll was the dominant medium for literary works and would remain dominant for secular works until the fourth
century. Julius Caesar, traveling in Gaul, found it useful to fold his scrolls
concertina-style for quicker reference[citation needed], as the Chinese also later did. As far back as the early 2nd century, there is evidence that the codex—usually of papyrus—was the
preferred format among Christians: in the library of the Villa of the Papyri, Herculaneum (buried in AD 79), all the
texts (Greek literature) are scrolls; in the Nag Hammadi "library", secreted about AD 390,
all the texts (Gnostic Christian) are codices. The earliest surviving fragments from codices come from Egypt and are variously
dated (always tentatively) towards the end of the 1st century or in the first half of the 2nd. This group includes the
Rylands Library Papyrus P52, containing part of St John's Gospel, and
perhaps dating from between 125 and 160.[2]
In Western culture the codex gradually replaced the scroll. From the fourth century,
when the codex gained wide acceptance, to the Carolingian Renaissance in the
eighth century, many works that were not converted from scroll to codex were lost to posterity. The codex was an improvement over
the scroll in several ways. It could be opened flat at any page, allowing easier reading; the pages could be written on both
recto and verso; and the codex, protected
within its durable covers, was more compact and easier to transport.
The codex also made it easier to organize documents in a library because it had a
stable spine on which the title of the book could be written. The spine could be used for the incipit, before the concept of a proper title was developed, during medieval times.
Although most early codices were made of papyrus, papyrus was fragile and supplies from
Egypt, the only place where papyrus grew, became scanty; the more durable parchment and
vellum gained favor, despite the cost.
The codices of pre-Columbian Mesoamerica had the
same form as the European codex, but were instead made with long folded strips of either fig bark (amatl) or plant fibers, often with a layer of whitewash applied before
writing.
In Asia, the scroll remained standard for far longer than in the West. The Jewish religion still
retains the Torah scroll, at least for ceremonial use.
Notable codices
Codices are usually named for their most famous resting-place, whether a city or a private library. N.B.: this is mostly a
list of notable books that happen to have Codex in their usual name, as opposed to e.g. Gospels, Bible etc.
Most of the books in the List of manuscripts and List of illuminated manuscripts are also codices.
- Codex Abrogans Latin, Old
High German 8th c. 765–775
- Codex Alexandrinus
- Aleppo Codex
- Codex Ambrosianus: A, B, C, D, E,
- Codex Amiatinus
- Codex Argenteus
- Arnamagnæan Codex
- Codex Astensis
- Auraicept na n-Éces
- Codex Aureus of St. Emmeram
- Codex Aureus of Lorsch
- Codex Berolinensis
- Codex Bezae
- Codex Borbonicus
- Burana Codex
- codex Boturini [1]
- Codex Cairensis also: Codex Prophetarum Cairensis, Cairo Codex of the Prophets
- Codex Claromontanus
- Cortesianus Codex
- Codex Cumanicus
- De arte venandi cum avibus
- Codex Ephraemi Rescriptus
- Codex Exoniensis
- Codex Flatoiensis
- Codex Gigas
- Codex Grandior
- Codex Hierosolymitanus
- Hypatian Codex 15ct OCS
- In Lebor Ogaim
- Codex Koridethi
- Leabhar Bhaile an Mhóta 1390 or 1391
- Lebor Gabála Érenn 11th c
- Lebor na gCeart before 1418
- Codex Leicester
- Leningrad Codex
- Codex Manichaicus Coloniensis
- Madrid Codex
- Codex Manesse
- Codex Mecelle
- Codex Mendoza
- Codex Montepessulanus H54 (M) 11th c [2]
- Morgan Bible 1240
- Codex ms. 3227a
- MS No. 7117 from the Erevan Matenadaran
- Novgorod Codex
- Nowell Codex
- Paris Codex
- Peterborough Chronicle
- Codex Pisanus
- Codex Rehdigerianus
- Codex Regius
- Rohonc Codex, a.k.a. Rohonci-kódex, or Rohonczi Codex
- Codex Runicus 1300
- Codex Sangallensis 878
- Codex Sinaiticus
- Codex Suprasliensis
- Codex Tchacos
- Troano Codex
- Codex Usserianus Primus
- Codex Vaticanus
- Codex Vigilanus written in Spain in the year of 976
- Codex Vindobonensis 795
- Codex Vindobonensis B 11093
- Codex Vindobonensis 3256 [3]
- Codex Vindobonensis Mexicanus 1 [4]
- Codex Wallerstein
- Codex Zamoscianus
- Codex Zouche-Nuttall
- Nag Hammadi library, a collection of early
Christian Gnostic texts in codex form discovered in the town of Nag Hammadi.
- Book of Kells, a set of Gospels from the 8th or 9th
century.
- Lucca Codex, 1220s, Biblioteca Statale, Lucca, Italy)
Notes
- ^ International Dunhuang Project - Several intermediate Chinese bookbinding forms from the
C10th.
- ^ Turner The Typology of the Early Codex, U Penn 1977, and Roberts
& Skeat The Birth of the Codex (Oxford University 1983). From Robert A Kraft (see link): "A fragment of a Latin
parchment codex of an otherwise unknown historical text dating to about 100 CE was also found at Oxyrhynchus (POx 30; see Roberts
& Skeat 28). Papyrus fragments of a "Treatise of the Empirical School" dated by its editor to the centuries 1-2 CE is also
attested in the Berlin collection (inv. # 9015, Pack\2 # 2355) - Turner, Typology # 389, and Roberts & Skeat 71, call it a
"medical manual.""
See also
References
The Alchemyst book
External links
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