Vindolanda

The ancient Romans were the dominant political, military, and cultural presence in the Mediterranean and most of western Europe for thousands of years. At the height of the Roman Empire their borders reached from Spain to Armenia and England to Egypt. Their legacy is still with us today in countless ways. One of their major contributions was to language and writing. The Romans were builders. Their road systems and city designs made communication across their vast empire easy and efficient. The ease of communication paired with widespread military education for men and domestic education for women facilitated high literacy among not only citizens but the assimilated foreigners. One of the richest examples of the Roman presence is the unearthed writing from Vindolanda, an ancient fort maintained on the British Roman border between the years 90-130 AD.

The excavations at Vindolanda in the 1970s, 80s, and 90s uncovered piles of ancient tablets, papyrus and leaf books. These fragments were written by military personnel along with their wives and slaves. They wrote about everything from simple lists to complicated military orders to social invitations and personal letters. It is apparent from these finds that writing was an important and widespread practice in ancient Rome. The variety of writing and their places of origin indicate that writing was becoming standardized and formalized throughout the empire.

The Vindolanda finds also shed light on the writing material used in the ancient world. There were some papyrus fragments but the discoveries indicate that wax tablets and leaf books were the prominent writing support and format. Wax tablets were about the size of a paperback book. Wax was spread across the wood and the writing would then be impressed into the wax with a stylus. The advantage of the wax tablets was that they could easily be reused.

Fabricated by Pamela Borrios for the Book Art Program,
Special Collections, J.Willard Marriott Library,
University of Utah

The leaf books are made of very thin slices of birch, alder, and oak. These were then folded in half and may have been sewn to other folded leaves.

The writings found at Vindolanda are not only important to understanding ancient Rome; they are important examples of the Roman influence on the development and standardization of languages and writing. Wax tablets and leaf books add an important element to the history and evolution of the look and feel of the book.

Other Beginnings

Not long after the Sumerians began writing, other systems of writing were beginning to develop all over the world. Civilizations in Africa, Asia, and the Americas were using their indigenous materials to preserve their own records and thoughts.

Over 4,000 years ago along the banks of the Nile River the Egyptians began to write. They used a picture system that is now called hieroglyphics. Most of the surviving writings are religious in nature. They wrote on a material called papyrus, made from the inner fibers of a reed which grew only on the banks of the northern Nile. Papyrus was used as a support for thousands of years by many different cultures.

Arabic Papyrus, Paper and Parchment Collection, 700 C.E
Papyrus 443b
Rare Books, Special Collections,
J. Willard Marriott Library, University of Utah

There are many examples of early writing systems throughout Asia. China was among the earliest civilizations to begin keeping records with the written word. Like other systems of writing, Chinese was a picture language that became abstracted in both meaning and appearance. The Chinese were also innovative in their writing supports. They were the first to use paper around 3,000 years ago. In other parts of Asia writing took on a different look. In Indonesia and the surrounding islands writing was a series of intricate loops impressed on the palm leaves.

Palm Leaf Book, 450 C.E.
Rare Books, Special Collections,
J. Willard Marriott Library, University of Utah

Around 3,000 years ago Mesoamericans began developing a writing system. It was first assumed, by modern scholars, that the highly stylized and pictorial images were not a writing system. Later investigation revealed that, similar to other writing systems, Mesoamerican writing was pictorial. Images represented many things in this culture. Mesoamericans used their domestic animal and plant life to create writing supports. They used specially prepared deer skin for more formal writings. They also wrote on a paper like material called Amatl, made from the bark of fig trees. The few remaining manuscripts are generally religious and closely relate to nature, astronomy, and celestial calendars.

Mesoamerican manuscript
Rare Books, Special Collections,
J.Willard Marriott Library, University of Utah

Writing is a worldwide phenomenon that developed in similar yet different ways all over the world. Human beings everywhere found it necessary to produce and preserve human thought and experience through writing and books.

The Beginning

The history of books and writing begins 5,000 years ago when the development of sustained agriculture allowed nomadic tribes to remain in one place. As agriculture grew to support larger and more diverse populations, records became necessary to keep track of resources, experiences and observations.

One of the first agricultural based civilizations was Sumer. Cuneiform, meaning wedge-shaped, is what modern scholars have named the writing system used by the Sumerians. As Sumer grew and the needs of the population became more demanding, pictographic writing symbols became more abstract to accommodate multiple and varied uses. Geography and nature played important roles in writing development.

Societies are shaped by their environment and writing is no different. Sumer was built between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. The Sumerians used the mud on the banks to make clay tablets as support for their writing. While the clay was soft they would make wedge-shaped impressions with a sharpened stick or stylus. As more people became dependent on writing, speed and accuracy became important. It was easier and faster to make an abstract symbol then a detailed picture.

The Marriott Library has a set of authentic Sumerian clay tablets dating to the second century B.C.E. They were found in the city of ad-Diwaniyah in modern day Iraq. Their size indicates that they are likely to be tax receipts. They were donated as part of the Louis Zucker collection in 1982.

Other records were also kept. The first pharmacopeia was written in Sumer. This list of medicinal herbs is simple and direct with no appeals to magic or superstition.

Pharmacopeia (Facsimile) Donated By Luise S. Goodman, College of Medicine, 1986 Rare Books Division, Special Collections, Marriott Library, University of Utah

Not long after a writing system was solidified, multiple uses for writing emerged. Religious text and literature appear early in the historical record. The Epic of Gilgamesh, for instance, tells the story of man’s failures and triumphs. The epic embodies themes that are found in all great literature and still, 4,ooo years later, express the human condition to the modern reader.

Writing has been central to human life, development and expression since its beginning, when mankind first brought thought, material and image together.

Rare Books, Special Collections

The story of the book is the story of human existence. Books are found in every part of the world. Whether they are in the form of clay tablets or printed pages they hold the secrets of the past. 

The Rare Books Division of Special Collections at the J. Willard Marriott Library preserves this past for the benefit of present and future generations. The Marriott Library holds over 60,000 items are available to the local community and researchers from around the world.

The University of Utah is the guardian of a very unique and valuable collection. Thanks to Dr. Aziz S. Atiya and his wife Lola, the University has the third largest Arabic papyrus collection in the world. Through this collection the world can gain insight into a culture that existed 1200 years ago.

Papyrus 733b

Rare Books Division, Special Collections,

J. Willard Marriott Library, University of Utah 

The University of Utah is ranked among the top 35 public research institutions for its involvement in science and medicine. The Rare Book Division maintains a collections to support it. The first printed editions of Euclid’s Elementa Geometria, Vesalius revolutionary book of human anatomy, and Galileo’s scandalous Dialogo are only the beginnings of a list of important works related to science and medicine.

The rare book collections are not limited to the distant past or to written words. The book as an object plays a significant role in our understanding of culture and art. Elaborate illumination, intricate prints, and impressive paintings are only part of what can be the art of the book. The fine press and book arts movements take a critical look at the object of the book as art itself. Every aspect of the book is part of a masterpiece. Even a simple binding with blank pages can contain insight into art.

The rare books collections at the J. Willard Marriott Library connect technological breakthroughs, past and present, with the human drive for aesthetic expression, bringing together shape, color, texture and thought.

Dumke Fine Arts & Architecture Library

The Katherine W. Dumke Fine Arts & Architecture Library is housed within the J. Willard Marriott Library at the University of Utah. We cater to patrons from the College of Fine Arts and the College of Architecture + Planning. Members of the community are most welcome to make use of our facility and resources, as well.

Our permanent library location is currently under renovation--due to reopen in January 2009--but we have a temporary research assistance desk on the east side of level 2. Trained student and professional staff are available to help you with your arts-related research questions. Check out our homepage for our up-to-date service hours, a list of suggested online resources, and to get one-on-one chat help.

Within the Dumke Library, you'll find the collected works of classical and modern composers, a selection of reference books spanning the performing and visual arts, as well as computers and peripherals--keyboards, editing stations, scanners, etc--for working on multimedia projects.

The focal point of our facility is the Fine Arts Locked Case, filled with unique, rare, and fragile materials (books, primarily) of interest to all arts patrons. We have artists books, international architecture magazines, boxed sets of Asian art books, oversized tomes on the history of costume design, catalog raisonnes for visual artists, graphic novels, turn-of-the-20th-century sheet music, and much more. We allow anyone to view "Locked Case" items within the library. And some materials can be checkout for seven days.

I agree, "Locked Case" is an uninviting term. Hopefully the treasures within will help you overcome any hesitation about asking to view them. Use the comments link below to offer your suggestions for a better name for our protective enclosure. I'm all ears!

Welcome to Uphemera!

Here at Uphemera, you'll find posts featuring a sampling of arts-related resources and events at the University of Utah's Marriott Library.

Staff members from Marriott Library's Special Collections Multimedia Archives, Rare Books, Book Arts Program, and the Katherine W. Dumke Fine Arts and Architecture Library will be contributing posts about books, images, films, ephemeral items, exhibitions and presentations. These resources are here for you to interact with, learn from, and build upon.

We hope you'll interact with us, as well. Please feel free to post your comments, ask questions and make recommendations as we continue to highlight the growing and ever-changing collections at Marriott Library.

Enjoy!