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