This may seem strange to you little girls and boys, my readers, who ever
since you were born have been surrounded with books of all sizes and
shapes, and on all sorts of subjects, from the books of grown-up people
that you could not understand, down to your most favorite story book
that you do understand and like so well as to read again and again.
We must, however, remind you, that books in those days were very
different things from what they are now, and their great value arose
from the fact that they were all written with pen and ink upon
parchment; for although a kind of paper had been made at that time, it
was not commonly used; and it was only after weeks and months of careful
labor, that one of these written books could be produced, so that it is
no wonder that a great value was set upon them. A book too was so
prized, that people liked to ornament it as much as possible, and many
of these written or manuscript books, which means _written by
hand_, had not only beautiful pictures in them, but were bound in
rich bindings, sometimes silk embroidered with gold and silver thread,
and sometimes even the backs were of beautifully carved ivory, or
adorned with filagree work, and pearls, and precious stones.
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