Quote: “The scroll did not have pages, and therefore no page numbering as such. This may partly explain why Roman historians and other writers did so little research (by our standards)-- it is devilishly difficult to find anything.”
Comment: One of the things that I thought was very interesting was the idea that the Romans preferred the “impractical” method of reading on materials like papyrus and how that tangentially connects to how things have a tendency to lose their beauty as we seek out convenience in our day-to-day lives. It’s natural that things look and operate differently as certain advancements are made, but it becomes even more apparent when things are changed or entirely reworked so that it’s more convenient for the average person. I’ve seen instances of this in architecture (brutalism, the rise in minimalist interior design), the drop in literacy rates, and the rise in the use of AI for monotonous tasks.
Question: If codex were very easily destroyed, what are the ways that preservationists and archivists keep any that they’ve recovered in a stable condition?