[4] The word biblos or byblos, was afterwards almost
appropriated to books written upon the paper of Egypt.
But during many ages the article most in use, and of which the
consumption was so great as to form a principal branch of the commerce
of the Mediterranean, was that manufactured from the papyrus of Egypt.
Many manuscripts written upon this kind of paper in the sixth, and some
even so early as the fourth century, are still extant. It formed the
material of by far the larger proportion of all books from very early
times till about the seventh or eighth century, when it gradually gave
place to a still more convenient manufacture.
The papyrus, or Egyptian reed, grew in vast quantities in the stagnant
pools formed by the inundations of the Nile. The plant consists of a
single stem, rising sometimes to the height of ten cubits; this stem,
gradually tapering from the root, supports a spreading tuft at its
summit. The substance of the stem is fibrous, and the pith contains a
sweet juice. Every part of this plant was put to some use by the
Egyptians. The harder and lower part they formed into cups and other
utensils; the upper part into staves, or the ribs of boats; the sweet
pith was a common article of food; while the fibrous part of the stem
was manufactured into cloth, sails for ships, ropes, strings, shoes,
baskets, wicks for lamps, and, especially, into paper.
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