There is
another point worth bearing in mind. Speaking of Bishop
Shirwood's books, a writer in the English Historical Review
says: "Many of the books bear his mark, Nota, scattered
over the margins, or a hand with a long pointing finger.
These notes occur usually at the beginnings. In the days
when chapters and sections were unknown and division
into books rare, when headlines were not and pages sometimes
had no signatures even, not to speak of numbers, a
reader had to go solidly through a book, and could not
lightly turn up a passage he wished for, by the aid of a
referenre. But except in Cicero and in Plutarch--which is
read almost from beginning to end--the marks do not
often go far. Shirwood was doubtless too busy to find
much time for reading, and before he had made much way
with a book a new purchase had come to arouse his
interest."[1]
[1] E. H. R., XXV. 453.
But to the general rule of scarcity of books some
exceptions are known. When a book won a reputation,
the cost of producing copies was not wholly restrictive of
circulation. Copies of some works of the Fathers were
produced in great numbers.
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