| Bookends are first and foremost an item | | | | The advantage that books had over |
| of function. A bookend's only reason to | | | | scrolls was that individual pages made |
| exist is to be placed at the end of a | | | | access to information easier by |
| row of books to keep it from falling | | | | indexing, which eventually made books |
| over. While it is a simple concept, the | | | | more popular. Hand written on fine |
| history of bookends is wrapped within | | | | parchment or vellum, hand bound in fine |
| the very history of written language | | | | leather and sometimes highly decorated |
| itself. | | | | outside and in, these early books were |
| Before books, knowledge and information | | | | works of art in themselves. They were of |
| was passed by word of mouth. The more | | | | such high value that books were actually |
| the knowledge base of humans increased, | | | | chained to the shelves they were stored |
| the more the need for some way of | | | | on to prevent theft. They took so long |
| keeping a record of things. Among the | | | | to produce at such great expense that a |
| first 'books' known are clay tablets | | | | library with as few as 25 volumes was |
| with marks made into the wet clay which | | | | worth a fortune. These were stored in |
| was then fired in an oven like pottery. | | | | piles, or singly on slanted boards where |
| This was the first known written | | | | they were read. |
| language, called Cuneiform Script, | | | | The development of movable type for |
| developed over 6,000 years ago. As | | | | printing them slowly made them more |
| innovative as these first writings were, | | | | affordable and numerous. With so many |
| it was not the most practical way to | | | | more books available, shelving systems |
| record information, and carrying large | | | | holding books vertically to save space, |
| clay tablets around was definitely not | | | | with the spines facing outward for ease |
| convenient. The next innovation in the | | | | of identification were developed to |
| written word came with the introduction | | | | categorize and store them for ready use. |
| of the scroll, approximately 5,000 years | | | | The problems of a half-row of them |
| ago. The first scrolls were made from | | | | constantly falling over, sometimes off |
| animal skins or papyrus. | | | | the shelf, was solved by the use of |
| The scroll held many advantages over the | | | | bookends in these Renaissance libraries. |
| clay tablet. They weren't as cumbersome, | | | | Bookends have been with us ever since. |
| could hold much more information as the | | | | From plain metal bookends to highly |
| scroll could be made as long as was | | | | ornate bookends, their function remains |
| needed, and offered opportunities of | | | | the same. They are a part of the |
| editing text that were not possible with | | | | evolution of the written word that began |
| clay tablets once they had been fired. | | | | with those cuneiform tablets over 6,000 |
| The ancient Judeans used the scroll to | | | | years ago. That there was ever a need |
| transmit their holy texts, beginning a | | | | for such an item speaks volumes about |
| tradition that is still practiced in | | | | the ingenuity, creativity and |
| modern Judaism with Torah scrolls. | | | | practicality of the human mind. |