History of scrolls

In most ancient literate cultures scrolls were the earliest format for longer documents written in ink or paint on a flexible background, preceding bound books;[2] rigid media such as clay tablets were also used but had many disadvantages in comparison.

The oldest known scroll is the Diary of Merer, which can be dated to c. 2568 BCE in the reign of the Pharaoh Khufu or Cheops due to its contents.

Scrolls were used by many early civilizations before the codex, or bound book with pages, was invented by the Romans[3] and popularized by Christianity.

The Romans eventually found the scroll too cumbersome for lengthy works and developed the codex, which is the formal name for the modern style of book, with individual pages bound together.

It is often thought that this reflects the background in trade of many early Christians, who were used to codex notebooks, and less attached to the form that was traditional among the Roman elite and religious Jews.

These were usually written on high quality vellum, and stored in elaborate silver and gold cases inscribed with names of participants.

Originally designed for blacking the surfaces of raised stone-carved hieroglyphics, the ink was a mixture of soot from pine smoke and lamp oil mixed with the gelatin of donkey skin and musk.

Later other formats came into use in China, firstly the sutra or scripture binding, a scroll folded concertina-style, which avoids the need to unroll to find a passage in the middle.

The codex was a new format for reading the written word, consisting of individual pages loosely attached to each other at one side and bound with boards or cloth.

For early Christendom this was an invaluable asset, as the ability to mass reproduce their gospels was in high demand.

This made them hard to hold open and read, especially scrolls that were inscribed horizontally and unrolled vertically.

[10] Torah Scrolls are still used today in Jewish religious observance with almost insignificant changes despite the thousands of years in practice.

Although it was more for utilitarian than ceremonial purposes, the Marquis de Sade's 120 Days of Sodom, which he intended to be the filthiest book imaginable, is written on a scroll.