Leila Avrin es miembro de la School of Library and Archive Studies en la Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Texto en letra Bembo, tipografía diseñada en 1495 por Francesco Griffo de Bologna.

Incluye bibliografía.

Chapter 1 Writing: Embryo Writing. -- Systems and Stages. -- The Ancestors of Western Script. --
Chapter 2 The Alphabet: Principle and System. -- Diffusion of the Alphabet. --
Chapter 3 The Book in the Ancient World: Mesopotamia. -- History of Mesopotamia: Summer, Assyria, Babylonia. -- Books: Materials and Techniques. -- Literature. -- Scribes. -- Colophons. --
Chapter 4 The Egyptian Book: History and Evidence. -- Materials. -- Scrolls. -- Titles and Colophons. -- Literature. -- Illustrations. -- Scribes.
Chapter 5 The Hebrew Book: History. -- Materials. -- The Making of a Torah Scroll. -- Scribes. -- Books Other than the Torah. -- Development of the Hebrew Codex: The Middle Ages. -- Adornment and Illumination of Hebrew Manuscripts. --
Chapter 6 The Greek and Hellenistic Book: History and Evidence for the Book. -- Materials. -- The Writing of a Scroll. -- Readers and Scribes. -- Colophons. -- Literature. -- Hellenism and the Book. -- Parchment. --
Chapter 7 The Roman Book: History and Literature. -- Materials. -- Publishers, Scribes, and Readers. -- Education. -- From Scroll to Codex. --
Chapter 8 Latin Script: Capitals. -- Cursive Scripts. -- Uncials. -- Minuscules. -- Gothic Script. -- Humanistic Script. -- Calligraphy after the Invention of Printing. --
Chapter 9 Codices Manu Scripti: Books Written by Hand: The Monastery and the Literary Tradition. -- Materials. -- Design and Preparation of the Codex. -- The Scribe. -- Colophons. -- The Artist. -- Women and Books. -- The Late Middle Ages. -- Scources of Manuscripts. --
Chapter 10 Manuscript Illumination: Methodology. -- Early Christian and Byzantine Manuscripts. -- Hiberno-Saxon. -- Carolingian Renaissance. -- Ottonian. -- Romanesque. -- Gothic. --
Chapter 11 The Islamic Book: Materials: Papyrus, Parchment, and Paper. -- Tools, Ink, and Paint. -- Format. -- Literature. -- Script and Scribes. -- Illustrations. --
Chapter 12 Papermaking: From the Far East to the Near East. -- Spain. -- Italy. -- European Methods. -- New Raw Materials. -- Innovations. --
Chapter 13 Bookbinding: Technique: Forwarding. -- Finishing. -- History. --
Chapter 14 On the Eve of Printing: Block Printing in the Far East and Near East. -- Block Printing in Europe. -- Block Books. --
Bibliography. -- Index.