History: Where does the book format come from?

Early medieval manuscripts were usually made from animal skins, whose dimensions are still reflected in today’s book format. The reason: “Animal skins are essentially rectangles,” explains Joanna Story, Professor of Early Medieval History at the University of Leicester. “Basically, you get two A4 pieces out of one lamb skin.”

During a workshop as a Visiting Fellow at LMU’s Center for Advanced Studies, Story illustrates this using manuscripts from the Bavarian State Library in Munich. The library has an extraordinary collection of manuscripts whose production originated in the British Isles: “ The manuscripts that we are looking at are amongst the most interesting collection of what we call insular manuscripts. And this is one of the reasons why it's so fascinating to be working in the Bavarian State Library.”