Editing Book (section)

=== Tablet ===
{{Main|Clay tablet|Wax tablet}}Some of the earliest written records were made on tablets. Clay tablets (flattened pieces of clay impressed with a [[stylus]]) were used in the [[Ancient Near East]] throughout the [[Bronze Age]] and well into the [[Iron Age]], especially for writing in [[cuneiform]]. Wax tablets (pieces of wood covered in a layer of wax) were used in [[classical antiquity]] and throughout the [[Middle Ages]].

The custom of binding several wax tablets together (Roman ''pugillares'') is a possible precursor of modern bound books.<ref>{{cite book |last=Avrin |first=Leila |date=2010 |title=Scribes, Script, and Books: The Book Arts from Antiquity to the Renaissance |publisher=American Library Association |isbn=9780838910382 |page=173}}</ref> The etymology of the word ''codex'' (block of wood) suggests that it may have developed from wooden wax tablets.<ref>{{cite book| last = Bischoff| first = Bernhard| others = Dáibhí ó Cróinin| title = Latin palaeography antiquity and the Middle Ages| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=CFZgQgAACAAJ| year = 1990| publisher = Cambridge University Press| location = Cambridge| isbn = 978-0-521-36473-7| page = 11| access-date = August 29, 2020| archive-date = August 21, 2021| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210821053657/https://books.google.com/books?id=CFZgQgAACAAJ| url-status = live}}</ref>