Taylor, I.—The Alphabet. London, 1883.
Thompson, Sir E. M.—Handbook of Greek and Roman Palæography. London, 1893.
Westwood, J. O.—Cat. of Fictile Ivories. London, 1876.
CHAPTER II.
ROLLS, BOOKS AND BOOKBINDINGS.
Rolls of papyrus and vellum—Quaternions—The sewing of books—Headbands—The rounding and backing of books—Mediæval books—Irish cumdachs—Byzantine bindings—Oriental books—Modern methods of sewing and binding.
The length of ancient rolls of vellum has often puzzled bibliophiles. Rolls of narrow breadth are found 16 or 17 feet or more in length. A learned scholar on being asked how he accounted for this extraordinary length was quite puzzled, never having realised that the roll was in one piece. The neck of the giraffe seemed the only possible solution.
Fig. 16.—Egyptian papyrus roll, with mud seals.