Codex (redirected from Codexes)

codex

Manuscript book, especially of Scripture, early literature, or ancient mythological or historical annals. The earliest type of manuscript in the form of a modern book (i.e., a collection of pages stitched together along one side), the codex replaced earlier rolls of papyrus and wax tablets. Among its advantages, it could be opened at once to any point in the text, it permitted writing on both sides of the leaf, and it could contain long texts. The oldest extant Greek codex is the Codex Sinaiticus (4th century AD), a biblical manuscript. Codices were developed separately by pre-Columbian Mesoamericans after c. AD 1000.

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codex

Obsolete a legal code

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Codex 

a form of the book, consisting originally of sheets of parchment or papyrus, and since the late Middle Ages of paper, folded in half and sewn along the fold; groups of sheets were then fastened together on one side. The codex was first widely used in the eastern Roman provinces in the first centuries A.D., replacing tablets and scrolls, and about the sixth century A.D. it became the basic type of book. The adoption of the codex led to the development of binding and of the page and its decoration (page miniature, headpiece). Modern books retain the form of the codex.