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