評論
打印
What makes a book a book?
到底什么才叫書呢？
Is it just anything that stores and communicates information?
是指那些能儲存或者傳達信息的東西嗎？
Or does it have to do with paper, binding, font, ink, its weight in your hands, the smell of the pages?
還是它必須與跟紙、裝訂、字體、墨水、拿在手中的重量和書頁的氣味有關？
Is this a book? Probably not.
這是書嗎？大概不是。
But is this?
那這個呢？
To answer these questions, we need to go back to the start of the book as we know it and understand how these elements came together to make something more than the sum of their parts.
為了回答這些問題，我們需要回溯到已知的書的起源，去了解不同的的元素如何一起去整合為一件有著豐富意義的物件。
The earliest object that we think of as a book is the codex, a stack of pages bound along one edge.
我們已知的最早期的書是抄本，一疊單邊裝訂的紙頁。
But the real turning point in book history was Johannes Gutenberg's printing press in the mid-15th century.
但是在書的歷史中真正的轉折點，是Johannes Gutenberg在十五世紀中期發明的印刷機。
The concept of moveable type had been invented much earlier in Eastern culture, but the introduction of Gutenberg's press had a profound effect.
雖然東方在更早時就發明了活字印刷術，但Gutenberg的印刷機卻帶來了巨大的影響。
Suddenly, an elite class of monks and the ruling class no longer controlled the production of texts.
突然間，諸如僧人和統治階級之類的精英階層無法再控制文本的生產。
Messages could spread more easily, and copies could constantly be produced, so printing houses popped up all over Europe.
消息可以更簡單地傳播，文本可以不停地復制，因此全歐洲涌現了許多印刷廠。
The product of this bibliographic boom is familiar to us in some respects, but markedly different in others.
在書本蓬勃發展的時代的產品在很多方面是我們所熟悉的，但也在一些方面存在顯著不同。
The skeleton of the book is paper, type, and cover.
書的骨架是紙、字和封面。
More than 2000 years ago, China invented paper as a writing surface, which was itself predated by Egyptian papyrus.
在兩千多年以前，中國發明了紙作為書寫平臺，而之前的書寫平臺是埃及的紙莎草。
However, until the 16th century, Europeans mainly wrote on thin sheets of wood and durable parchment made of stretched animal skins.
然而直到十六世紀，歐洲人主要把字寫在薄木片或者用動物皮延展制成的耐用羊皮紙上。
Eventually, the popularity of paper spread throughout Europe, replacing parchment for most printings because it was less expensive in bulk.
最終，紙在歐洲也得到了廣泛的使用，在大多數印刷中取代了羊皮紙，因為散裝購買更便宜。
Inks had been made by combining organic plant and animal dyes with water or wine, but since water doesn't stick to metal type, use of the printing press required a change to oil-based ink.
墨水之前都是利用有機的植物與動物染料，加上水或酒一起合成，但由于金屬活字不能沾水，印刷機的使用需要一種油基墨水。
Printers used black ink made of a mixture of lamp soot, turpentine, and walnut oil.
印刷機用的黑色墨水是由燈煙灰、松節油和胡桃油混合制成。
