• Title: The Shape of the Book: From Roll to Codex
• Author: Franka Arduini (ed.), Guglielmo Cavallo (essay)
• Publisher: Mandragora, 2008
• ISBN-13: 978-88-7461-116-4

I bought this book in the Duomo Museum in Siena.  As the title indicates, its a book about books, or more accurately a catalog of some of the history of the written word.  This book is not available from Amazon – I’ve added a link to the publisher’s page.

There is one essay which is quite good but also quite technical – I had to look up some words that are quite technical and not in common lay use.  The photos and descriptions in the catalog was quite nice.  I’ve reproduced a couple here so you can see.

I don’t find many books about the history of the written word, so I’m glad I could add this small volume to my collection.

On the top, an ostracon from the 2nd century BCE, on the bottom a phallus contest from Japan, 19th cen.