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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;GinoLR, post: 24604442, member: 128351&quot;]It is true that the preservation of older books may always be a problem. When books are just stored on a bookshelf and stay there, being rarely taken by readers, they can stay intact for centuries. That&#039;s why there are still a few manuscripts dating back to Constantius II (for ex. the Codex Vaticanus, a 4th c. manuscript Greek bible on parchment of unknown provenance, which is kept in the Vatican Library since the 15th c.). This book has always been available for readers in some library, not like the Dead Sea Scrolls or even much older papyrus scrolls like some Egyptian Books of the Dead which have been well-preserved in tombs during more than 3000 years and are archaeological discoveries. </p><p><br /></p><p>I note that in late Antiquity and early Middle Ages, books were not stored upright but flat on the shelf. Here is a sarcophagus relief from Ostia, c. 300 AD, showing a physician reading a scroll taken from his own bookshelf:</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1563518[/ATTACH] </p><p>This is how scrolls were stored in Antiquity. They also had portable &quot;capsae&quot;, like hat boxes, to carry a dozen scrolls where they were needed. </p><p><br /></p><p>When they switched to the codex format in the 4th c. they just stored the books flat on the shelf :</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1563519[/ATTACH] </p><p>Left : the 4 Gospels in codex format, in a bookcase. Mosaic c. 450 AD in the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia, Ravenna. </p><p>Right : Ezra writing the Bible. Codex Amiatinus, England, c. 700 AD. </p><p>Unlike the Roman physician&#039;s bookcase, these two have triangular pediments. The triangular pediment means &quot;sacred&quot;. It is found on temple facades, sarcophagi, tombstones, everything that was sacred. These bookcases contain the Gospels, or the Old Testament books, all sacred books. </p><p><br /></p><p>In the 1400s - early 1500s there were many more manuscript books available, and early printed books started to flood Europe. Libraries and bookcases became a mess, books were stored flat on the shelf as before, but also standing upright, when they were not just left on the floor or piled in chests. </p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1563521[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>I have some old books at home, from the 16th to the 18th c. In Latin, in French, in Greek. Some are from ancestors, some others I acquired many years ago. They have very different sizes, and because I wanted them stored together, it&#039;s a mess, just like a 15th c. private library. </p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1563526[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>The oldest one is Hesiod and other rare Greek poets (Theognis, Orpheus, Phocylides, the Sibyl, etc.), all in Greek, printed in Florence in 1540 (but the binding is 18th c.). Another one is Macrobius, in Latin, printed in Lyons in 1550.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1563527[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>There are many others. My favourite one is an atlas, dozens of maps of the world in the 1780s. There is no year printed on the title page, it predates the French Revolution because France is divided in &quot;généralités&quot;, but it already mentions the United States of America. This country has changed a lot since... </p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1563528[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>&quot;Ft (Fort) Chicagou&quot; for example ! <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie50" alt=":happy:" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" />[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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