The evolution of the book - Julie Dreyfuss

翻译人员: Alison Choi 校对人员: Yuan Ma

What makes a book a book?

到底什么才叫书呢？

Is it just anything that stores and communicates information?

书是任何可以储存 和传递信息的东西吗？

Or does it have to do with paper,

还是它必须与跟纸、

binding,

装订、

font,

ink,

字体、

墨水、

its weight in your hands,

拿在手中的重量

the smell of the pages?

和书页的气味有关？

Is this a book?

这是书吗？

大概不是。

Probably not.

But is this?

那这个呢？

To answer these questions,

为了回答这些问题，

we need to go back to the start of the book as we know it

我们需要回溯到已知的书的起源，

and understand how these elements came together to make something

去了解不同的的元素如何一起去整合为

more than the sum of their parts.

一件有着丰富意义的物件。

The earliest object that we think of as a book is the codex,

我们已知的最早期的书是抄本，

a stack of pages bound along one edge.

一叠单边装订的纸页。

But the real turning point in book history

但是在书的历史中真正的转折点，

was Johannes Gutenberg's printing press in the mid-15th century.

是Johannes Gutenberg 在十五世纪中期发明的印刷机。

The concept of moveable type had been invented much earlier in Eastern culture,

虽然东方在更早时就发明了活字印刷术，

but the introduction of Gutenberg's press had a profound effect.

但Gutenberg的印刷机却 带来了巨大的影响。

Suddenly, an elite class of monks and the ruling class

突然间，诸如僧人和 统治阶级之类的精英阶层

no longer controlled the production of texts.

无法再控制文本的生产。

Messages could spread more easily,

消息可以更简单地传播，

and copies could constantly be produced,

文本可以不停地复制，

so printing houses popped up all over Europe.

因此全欧洲涌现了许多印刷厂。

在书本蓬勃发展的时代的产品 在很多方面是我们所熟悉的，

The product of this bibliographic boom is familiar to us in some respects,

but markedly different in others.

但也在一些方面存在显著不同。

The skeleton of the book is paper, type, and cover.

书的骨架是纸、字和封面。

More than 2000 years ago, China invented paper as a writing surface,

在两千多年以前， 中国发明了纸作为书写平台，

which was itself predated by Egyptian papyrus.

而之前的书写平台是 埃及的纸莎草。

However, until the 16th century,

然而直到十六世纪，

Europeans mainly wrote on thin sheets of wood

欧洲人主要把字写在薄木片

and durable parchment made of stretched animal skins.

或者用动物皮延展制成的耐用羊皮纸上。

Eventually, the popularity of paper spread throughout Europe,

最终，纸在欧洲也得到了广泛的使用，

在大多数印刷中取代了羊皮纸， 因为散装购买更便宜。

replacing parchment for most printings because it was less expensive in bulk.

Inks had been made by combining organic plant and animal dyes

墨水之前都是利用有机的植物与动物染料， 加上水或酒一起合成，

with water or wine,

but since water doesn't stick to metal type,

但由于金属活字不能沾水，

use of the printing press required a change to oil-based ink.

印刷机的使用需要一种油基墨水。

印刷机用的黑色墨水是由 灯烟灰、松节油和胡桃油混合制成。

Printers used black ink made of a mixture of lamp soot,

turpentine,

and walnut oil.

那字的大小和字体呢？

And what about font size and type?

The earliest movable type pieces consisted of reversed letters

最早的活字是在铅铝坯料的一端 铸造凸出的反字，

cast in relief on the ends of lead alloy stocks.

They were handmade and expensive,

这些活字都是手工制成，价格昂贵，

and the designs were as different as the people who carved their molds.

字样的设计因雕刻字模的工匠不同而异。

Standardization was not really possible until mass manufacturing

在大规模制造和易用的文字处理系统产生之前， 标准化实际上根本不可能。

and the creation of an accessible word processing system.

As for style, we can thank Nicolas Jenson for developing two types of Roman font

我们应该感谢Nicolas Jenson发明了 两种罗马字体，那之后产生了上千种其他字形，

that led to thousands of others,

including the familiar Times Roman.

这其中包含了我们熟悉的Times Roman。

Something had to hold all this together,

这一切要怎么组合在一起呢？

and until the late 15th century,

直到十五世纪晚期，

covers consisted of either wood,

书的封面都是由木头或纸张粘贴在一起而成，

or sheets of paper pasted together.

These would eventually be replaced by rope fiber millboard,

这些最后被绳纤维做成的纸板代替，

originally intended for high quality bindings in the late 17th century,

这在十七世纪晚期本来是作为较高级的装订方式，

but later as a less expensive option.

而后来变成了一种经济的选择。

And while today's mass produced cover illustrations are marketing tools,

虽然封面插图在现在大规模生产的今天 是一种营销手段，

the cover designs of early books were made to order.

早期书的封面设计是定制的。

Even spines have a history.

连书脊都有一段历史。

Initially, they were not considered aesthetically important,

一开始它们被认为对美观并不重要，

and the earliest ones were flat, rather than rounded.

最早期的书脊都是直边而不是圆的，

The flat form made the books easier to read

直的书脊让书可以平稳地放在桌子上 以便读书。

by allowing the book to rest easily on a table.

But those spines were damaged easily from the stresses of normal use.

但是这种书脊因为每天的日常使用容易被损坏，

A rounded form solved that issue,

圆形的书脊解决了这个问题。

although new problems arose,

可是新的问题又出现了，

like having the book close in on itself.

比如书会自己合起来。

But flexibility was more important,

但尤其对于忙碌的读者来说， 灵活性还是更重要。

especially for the on-the-go reader.

As the book evolves and we replace bound texts

当书继续进化，

我们开始用平板屏幕和电子墨水代替固定文本，

with flat screens and electronic ink,

are these objects and files really books?

这些物品和文件真的是书吗？

Does the feel of the cover

封面的触感和纸张的气味会增强阅读的体验吗？

or the smell of the paper add something crucial to the experience?

Or does the magic live only within the words,

还是说阅读的魔力只在于文字的内容，

no matter what their presentation?

与呈现的形式无关呢？