BOOK

the general name applied to a printed volume. In early times books were made of the bark of trees; hence the Latin liber means bark and book, as in English the words book and beech (A-S. hoc) may be connected. Some, however, derive oook from httgan, to bend, as the Latin vokimenf a roll or volume, from volvo, to rolL The materials of books were also derived from the papyrus, a plant which is a native of Egypt, and which gave its name to paper. The use of parchment, prepared from skins, next followed, until it was supplanted by paper in the twelfth century. See BiBUOORAFHT and Papeb; also the articles Bookbinding and Book-tbade, which follow.