Harry Ransom CenterThe University of Texas at Austin

	Medieval scriptorium.
	Illustration from a 15th-century German block book, Ars bene moriendi.
	Text from a 15th-century German block book, Ars bene moriendi.

The Book before Gutenberg

The earliest books were written on scrolls. From the Second Century A.D. to the present time, however, most books have been produced in the familiar codex format—in other words, bound at one edge. During the Middle Ages, manuscript books were produced by monks who worked with pen and ink in a copying room known as a scriptorium. Even a small book could take months to complete, and a book the size of the Bible could take several years.

In the 1460s, block books incorporating pictures became popular in Europe. An entire illustrated page was engraved on a wood block and printed on only one side of the paper. A similar printing process involving blocks had been developed in the Far East many centuries before Gutenberg's time. The engraving and printing of block books was a cumbersome process and was unsuitable for books consisting primarily of text.