Course: Global Codex: Hidden Stories of Books Across Cultures

We’ve just seen how paper shaped the size and format of Japanese books. Now let’s turn to Europe with Professor Mari Agata, a specialist in early European printed books In …

What determines the size and shape of a book? One important clue is the paper used to make it. I’ll introduce some of the paper sizes traditionally used in Japan. …

Not all codices are taller than they are wide. What can we learn from books that have a horizontal form? In Japan, horizontal books were used for a variety of …

Most codices are taller than they are wide — but what about square books? Square codices appear in some unexpected places. What might their shape tell us about connections between …

Codices come in many different sizes and proportions. But are these differences simply a matter of size and design? In this video, I’ll compare printed books from China, Korea, Japan, …

Welcome to Week 2! In Week 1, we explored what a codex is by looking at different binding traditions around the world. Now, let’s take a closer look at the …

To close this activity, Mayumi Ikeda explores the changing physical form of one of the most influential books in Europe: the Bible. In discussing the codex in medieval Europe, it …

Our journey now takes us beyond East Asia. I’m here in the British Library’s Asian & African Studies Reading Room — a fitting place to begin the next part of …

We’ve seen examples of detchōsō from the Korean Peninsula. But what about China? In this video, you’ll explore examples from China and see how detchōsō books were sometimes transformed into …

Let’s begin our exploration by looking at the Korean Peninsula Japanese book culture was strongly influenced by both China and the countries of the Korean Peninsula, which is connected to …

Hello, I’m Takahiro Sasaki, and together with Satoko Tokunaga, I’ll be your guide through this course. Let’s begin with a short video, where I’ll introduce you to some intriguing questions …

There are five main binding styles in traditional Japanese bookmaking Top from the left: detchōsō (butterfly binding) and tetsuyōsō (thread binding) Bottom from the left: kansusō (scroll), orihon (accordion binding) …