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  • PURPLE

    Purple is a color similar in appearance to violet light. In the RYB color model historically used in the arts, purple is a secondary color created by combining red and blue pigments. In the CMYK color model used in modern printing, purple is made by combining magenta pigment with either cyan pigment, black pigment, or both. In the RGB color model used in computer and television screens, purple is created by mixing red and blue light in order to create colors that appear similar to violet light.

    Purple has long been associated with royalty, originally because Tyrian purple dye—made from the secretions of sea snails—was extremely expensive in antiquity.[1] Purple was the color worn by Roman magistrates; it became the imperial color worn by the rulers of the Byzantine Empire and the Holy Roman Empire, and later by Roman Catholic bishops. Similarly in Japan, the color is traditionally associated with the emperor and aristocracy.[2]

    According to contemporary surveys in Europe and the United States, purple is the color most often associated with rarity, royalty, luxury, ambition, magic, mystery, piety and spirituality.[3][4] When combined with pink, it is associated with eroticismfemininity, and seduction.[5]

    Etymology and definitions

    The modern English word purple comes from the Old English purpul, which derives from Latin purpura, which, in turn, derives from the Greek πορφύρα (porphura),[6] the name of the Tyrian purple dye manufactured in classical antiquity from a mucus secreted by the spiny dye-murex snail.[7][8] The first recorded use of the word purple dates to the late 900s AD.[7]

    In art, history, and fashion

    In prehistory and the ancient world

    Main article: Tyrian purple

    Purple first appeared in prehistoric art during the Neolithic era. The artists of Pech Merle cave and other Neolithic sites in France used sticks of manganese and hematite powder to draw and paint animals and the outlines of their own hands on the walls of their caves. These works have been dated to between 16,000 and 25,000 BC.[9]

    Purple textiles, dating back to the early second millennium BCE, were found in Syria, making them the oldest known purple textiles in the world. These findings include textiles from a burial site in Chagar Bazar, dating back to the 18th-16th centuries BCE, as well as preserved textile samples discovered in gypsum at the Royal Palace of Qatna.[10][11][12]

    As early as the 15th century BC, the citizens of Sidon and Tyre, two cities on the coast of Ancient Phoenicia (present day Lebanon), were producing purple dye from a sea snail called the spiny dye-murex.[13] Clothing colored with the Tyrian dye was mentioned in both the Iliad of Homer and the Aeneid of Virgil.[13] The deep, rich purple dye made from this snail became known as Tyrian purple.[14]

    The process of making the dye was long, difficult and expensive. Thousands of the tiny snails had to be found, their shells cracked, the snail removed. Mountains of empty shells have been found at the ancient sites of Sidon and Tyre. The snails were left to soak, then a tiny gland was removed and the juice extracted and put in a basin, which was placed in the sunlight. There, a remarkable transformation took place. In the sunlight the juice turned white, then yellow-green, then green, then violet, then a red which turned darker and darker. The process had to be stopped at exactly the right time to obtain the desired color, which could range from a bright crimson to a dark purple, the color of dried blood. Then either wool, linen or silk would be dyed. The exact hue varied between crimson and violet, but it was always rich, bright and lasting.[15]

    Tyrian purple became the color of kings, nobles, priests and magistrates all around the Mediterranean. It was mentioned in the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament); in the Book of Exodus, God instructs Moses to have the Israelites bring him an offering including cloth “of blue, and purple, and scarlet,”[16] to be used in the curtains of the Tabernacle and the garments of priests. The term used for purple in the 4th-century Latin Vulgate version of the Bible passage is purpura or Tyrian purple.[17] In the Iliad of Homer, the belt of Ajax is purple, and the tails of the horses of Trojan warriors are dipped in purple. In the Odyssey, the blankets on the wedding bed of Odysseus are purple. In the poems of Sappho (6th century BC) she celebrates the skill of the dyers of the Greek kingdom of Lydia who made purple footwear, and in the play of Aeschylus (525–456 BC), Queen Clytemnestra welcomes back her husband Agamemnon by decorating the palace with purple carpets. In 950 BC, King Solomon was reported to have brought artisans from Tyre to provide purple fabrics to decorate the Temple of Jerusalem.[18]

    Alexander the Great (when giving imperial audiences as the basileus of the Macedonian Empire), the basileus of the Seleucid Empire, and the kings of Ptolemaic Egypt all wore Tyrian purple.

    The Roman custom of wearing purple togas may have come from the Etruscans; an Etruscan tomb painting from the 4th century BC shows a nobleman wearing a deep purple and embroidered toga.

    In Ancient Rome, the Toga praetexta was an ordinary white toga with a broad purple stripe on its border. It was worn by freeborn Roman boys who had not yet come of age,[19] curule magistrates,[20][21] certain categories of priests,[22] and a few other categories of citizens.

    The Toga picta was solid purple, embroidered with gold. During the Roman Republic, it was worn by generals in their triumphs, and by the Praetor Urbanus when he rode in the chariot of the gods into the circus at the Ludi Apollinares.[23] During the Empire, the toga picta was worn by magistrates giving public gladiatorial games, and by the consuls, as well as by the emperor on special occasions.

    During the Roman Republic, when a triumph was held, the general being honored wore an entirely purple toga bordered in gold, and Roman Senators wore a toga with a purple stripe. However, during the Roman Empire, purple was more and more associated exclusively with the emperors and their officers.[24] Suetonius claims that the early emperor Caligula had the King of Mauretania murdered for the splendour of his purple cloak, and that Nero forbade the use of certain purple dyes.[25] In the late empire the sale of purple cloth became a state monopoly protected by the death penalty.[26]

    According to the New TestamentJesus Christ, in the hours leading up to his crucifixion, was dressed in purple (πορφύρα: porphura) by the Roman garrison to mock his claim to be ‘King of the Jews‘.[27]

    The actual color of Tyrian purple seems to have varied from a reddish to a bluish purple. According to the Roman writer Vitruvius, (1st century BC), the murex shells coming from northern waters, probably Bolinus brandaris, produced a more bluish color than those of the south, probably Hexaplex trunculus. The most valued shades were said to be those closer to the color of dried blood, as seen in the mosaics of the robes of the Emperor Justinian in Ravenna. The chemical composition of the dye from the murex is close to that of the dye from indigo, and indigo was sometimes used to make a counterfeit Tyrian purple, a crime which was severely punished. What seems to have mattered about Tyrian purple was not its color, but its luster, richness, its resistance to weather and light, and its high price.[28]

    In modern times, Tyrian purple has been recreated, at great expense. When the German chemist Paul Friedander tried to recreate Tyrian purple in 2008, he needed twelve thousand mollusks to create 1.4 ounces of dye, enough to color a handkerchief. In the year 2000, a gram of Tyrian purple made from ten thousand mollusks according to the original formula cost two thousand euros.[29][30]

    China

    Main article: Han purple and Han blue

    In ancient China, purple was obtained not through the Mediterranean mollusc, but purple gromwell. The dye obtained did not easily adhere to fabrics, making purple fabrics expensive. Purple became a fashionable color in the state of Qi (齊, 1046 BC–221 BC) because its ruler, Duke Huan of Qi, developed a preference for it. As a result, the price of purple fabric was over five times that of plain fabric. His minister, Guan Zhong (管仲), eventually convinced him to relinquish this preference.

    China was the first culture to develop a synthetic purple color.[31]

    An old hypothesis suggested links between the Chinese purple and blue and Egyptian blue, however, molecular structure analysis and evidence such as the absence of lead in Egyptian blue and the lack of examples of Egyptian blue in China, argued against the hypothesis.[32][33] The use of quartz, barium, and lead components in ancient Chinese glass and Han purple and Han blue has been used to suggest a connection between glassmaking and the manufacture of pigments,[34] and to prove the independence of the Chinese invention.[32] Taoist alchemists may have developed Han purple from their knowledge of glassmaking.[32]

    Lead is used by the pigment maker to lower the melting point of the barium in Han Purple.[35]

    Purple was regarded as a secondary color in ancient China. In classical times, secondary colors were not as highly prized as the five primary colors of the Chinese spectrum, and purple was used to allude to impropriety, in contrast to crimson, which was deemed a primary color and symbolized legitimacy. Nevertheless, by the 6th century AD, purple was ranked above crimson. Several changes to the ranks of colors occurred after that time.

    • An Egyptian bowl colored with Egyptian blue, with motifs painted in dark manganese purple. (between 1550 and 1450 BC)
    • Painting of a man wearing an all-purple toga picta, from an Etruscan tomb (about 350 BC).
    • Roman men wearing togae praetextae with reddish-purple stripes during a religious procession (1st century BC).
    • Different purple hues obtained from three types of sea snails
    • Dye bath of Tyrian purple
    • Cloth dyed with Tyrian purple. The color could vary from crimson to deep purple, depending upon the type of murex sea-snail and how it was made.

    Purple in the Byzantine Empire and Carolingian Europe

    Through the early Christian era, the rulers of the Byzantine Empire continued the use of purple as the imperial color, for diplomatic gifts, and even for imperial documents and the pages of the Bible. Gospel manuscripts were written in gold lettering on parchment that was colored Tyrian purple.[36] Empresses gave birth in the Purple Chamber, and the emperors born there were known as “born to the purple,” to separate them from emperors who won or seized the title through political intrigue or military force. Bishops of the Byzantine church wore white robes with stripes of purple, while government officials wore squares of purple fabric to show their rank.

    In western Europe, the Emperor Charlemagne was crowned in 800 wearing a mantle of Tyrian purple, and was buried in 814 in a shroud of the same color, which still exists (see below). However, after the fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Turks in 1453, the color lost its imperial status. The great dye works of Constantinople were destroyed, and gradually scarlet, made with dye from the cochineal insect, became the royal color in Europe.[37]

    • 11th-century Byzantine robe, dyed Tyrian purple with murex dye. Creatures are griffins
    • A medieval depiction of the coronation of the Emperor Charlemagne in 800. The bishops and cardinals wear purple, and the Pope wears white.

    The Middle Ages and Renaissance

    In 1464, Pope Paul II decreed that cardinals should no longer wear Tyrian purple, and instead wear scarlet, from kermes and alum,[38] since the dye from Byzantium was no longer available. Bishops and archbishops, of a lower status than cardinals, were assigned the color purple, but not the rich Tyrian purple. They wore cloth dyed first with the less expensive indigo blue, then overlaid with red made from kermes dye.[39][40]

    While purple was worn less frequently by medieval and Renaissance kings and princes, it was worn by the professors of many of Europe’s new universities. Their robes were modeled after those of the clergy, and they often wore square/violet or purple/violet caps and robes, or black robes with purple/violet trim. Purple/violet robes were particularly worn by students of divinity.

    Purple and violet also played an important part in the religious paintings of the Renaissance. Angels and the Virgin Mary were often portrayed wearing purple or violet robes.

    • A 12th-century painting of Saint Peter consecrating Hermagoras, wearing purple, as a bishop.
    • In the Ghent Altarpiece (1422) by Jan van Eyck, the popes and bishops are wearing purple robes.
    • A purple-clad angel from the Resurrection of Christ by Raphael (1483–1520)

    18th and 19th centuries

    In the 18th century, purple was still worn on occasion by Catherine the Great and other rulers, by bishops and, in lighter shades, by members of the aristocracy, but rarely by ordinary people, because of its high cost. But in the 19th century, that changed.

    In 1856, an eighteen-year-old British chemistry student named William Henry Perkin was trying to make a synthetic quinine. His experiments produced instead the first synthetic aniline dye, a purple shade called mauveine, shortened simply to mauve. It took its name from the mallow flower, which is the same color.[41] The new color quickly became fashionable, particularly after Queen Victoria wore a silk gown dyed with mauveine to the Royal Exhibition of 1862. Prior to Perkin’s discovery, mauve was a color which only the aristocracy and rich could afford to wear. Perkin developed an industrial process, built a factory, and produced the dye by the ton, so almost anyone could wear mauve. It was the first of a series of modern industrial dyes which completely transformed both the chemical industry and fashion.[42]

    Purple was popular with the pre-Raphaelite painters in Britain, including Arthur Hughes, who loved bright colors and romantic scenes.

    20th and 21st centuries

    At the turn of the century, purple was a favorite color of the Austrian painter Gustav Klimt, who flooded his pictures with sensual purples and violets.

    In the 20th century, purple retained its historic connection with royalty; George VI (1896–1952), wore purple in his official portrait, and it was prominent in every feature of the coronation of Elizabeth II in 1953, from the invitations to the stage design inside Westminster Abbey. But at the same time, it was becoming associated with social change; with the Women’s Suffrage movement for the right to vote for women in the early decades of the century, with Feminism in the 1970s, and with the psychedelic drug culture of the 1960s.

    In the early 20th century, purple, green, and white were the colors of the Women’s Suffrage movement, which fought to win the right to vote for women, finally succeeding with the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in 1920. Later, in the 1970s, in a tribute to the Suffragettes, it became the color of the women’s liberation movement.[43]

    In the concentration camps of Nazi Germany, prisoners who were members of non-conformist religious groups, such as the Jehovah’s Witnesses, were required to wear a purple triangle.[44]

    During the 1960s and early 1970s, it was also associated with counterculturepsychedelics, and musicians like Jimi Hendrix with his 1967 song “Purple Haze“, or the English rock band of Deep Purple which formed in 1968. Later, in the 1980s, it was featured in the song and album Purple Rain (1984) by the American musician Prince.

    The Purple Rain Protest was a protest against apartheid that took place in Cape Town, South Africa on 2 September 1989, in which a police water cannon with purple dye sprayed thousands of demonstrators. This led to the slogan The Purple Shall Govern.

    The violet or purple necktie became very popular at the end of the first decade of the 21st century, particularly among political and business leaders. It combined the assertiveness and confidence of a red necktie with the sense of peace and cooperation of a blue necktie, and it went well with the blue business suit worn by most national and corporate leaders.[45]

    In science and nature

    Optics

    The meanings of the color terms violet and purple varies even among native speakers of English, for example between United Kingdom and United States.[46] Optics research on purple and violet contains contributions of authors from different countries and different native languages, it is likely to be inconsistent in the use and meaning of the two colors.

    According to some speakers/authors of English, purple, unlike violet, is not one of the colors of the visible spectrum.[47] It was not one of the colors of the rainbow identified by Isaac Newton. According to some authors, purple does not have its own wavelength of light. For this reason, it is sometimes called a non-spectral color. It exists in culture and art, but not, in the same way that violet does, in optics. According to some speakers of English, purple is simply a combination, in various proportions, of two primary colors, red and blue.[48] According to other speakers of English, the same range of colors is called violet.[49]

    In some textbooks of color theory, and depending on the geographical-cultural origin of the author, a “purple” is defined as any non-spectral color between violet and red (excluding violet and red themselves).[50] In that case, the spectral colors violet and indigo would not be shades of purple. For other speakers of English, these colors are shades of purple.

    In the traditional color wheel long used by painters, purple is placed between crimson and violet.[51] However, also here there is much variation in color terminology depending on cultural background of the painters and authors, and sometimes the term violet is used and placed in between red and blue on the traditional color wheel. In a slightly different variation, on the color wheel, purple is placed between magenta and violet. This shade is sometimes called electric purple (see shades of purple).[52]

    In the RGB color model, named for the colors red, green, and blue, used to create all the colors on a computer screen or television, the range of purples is created by mixing red and blue light of different intensities on a black screen. The standard HTML color purple is created by red and blue light of equal intensity, at a brightness that is halfway between full power and darkness.

    In color printing, purple is sometimes represented by the color magenta, or sometimes by mixing magenta with red or blue. It can also be created by mixing just red and blue alone, but in that case the purple is less bright, with lower saturation or intensity. A less bright purple can also be created with light or paint by adding a certain quantity of the third primary color (green for light or yellow for pigment).

    Relationship with violet

    This CIE chromaticity diagram highlights the line of purples at its base, running from the violet corner near the left to the red corner at the right.

    Purple is closely associated with violet. In common usage, both refer to a variety of colors between blue and red in hue.[53][54][55] Historically, purple has tended to be used for redder hues and violet for bluer hues.[53][56][57] In optics, violet is a spectral color; it refers to the color of any different single wavelength of light on the short wavelength end of the visible spectrum, between approximately 380 and 450 nanometers,[58] whereas purple is the color of various combinations of red, blue, and violet light,[50][55] some of which humans perceive as similar to violet.

    On a chromaticity diagram, the straight line connecting the extreme spectral colors (red and violet) is known as the line of purples (or ‘purple boundary’); it represents one limit of human color perception. The color magenta used in the CMYK printing process is near the center of the line of purples, but most people associate the term “purple” with a somewhat bluer tone, such as is displayed by the color “electric purple” (a color also directly on the line of purples), shown below.

    On the CIE xy chromaticity diagram, violet is on the curved edge in the lower left, while purples are on the straight line connecting the extreme colors red and violet; this line is known as the line of purples, or the purple line.[59][60]

    Pigments

    • Hematite and manganese are the oldest pigments used for the color purple. They were used by Neolithic artists in the form of sticks, like charcoal, or ground and powdered and mixed with fat, and used as a paint. Hematite is a reddish iron oxide which, when ground coarsely, makes a purple pigment. One such pigment is caput mortuum, whose name is also used in reference to mummy brown. The latter is another pigment containing hematite and historically produced with the use of mummified corpses.[61] Some of its compositions produce a purple color and may be called “mummy violet”.[62] Manganese was also used in Roman times to color glass purple.[63]
    • Han purple was the first synthetic purple pigment, invented in China in about 700 BC. It was used in wall paintings and pottery and other applications. In color, it was very close to indigo, which had a similar chemical structure. Han purple was very unstable, and sometimes was the result of the chemical breakdown of Han blue.

    During the Middle Ages, artists usually made purple by combining red and blue pigments; most often blue azurite or lapis-lazuli with red ochrecinnabar, or minium. They also combined lake colors made by mixing dye with powder; using woad or indigo dye for the blue, and dye made from cochineal for the red.[64]

    • Cobalt violet was the first modern synthetic color in the purple family, manufactured in 1859. It was found, along with cobalt blue, in the palette of Claude MonetPaul Signac, and Georges Seurat. It was stable, but had low tinting power and was expensive, so quickly went out of use.[65]
    • Manganese violet was a stronger color than cobalt violet, and replaced it on the market.
    • Quinacridone violet, one of a modern synthetic organic family of colors, was discovered in 1896 but not marketed until 1955. It is sold today under a number of brand names.
    • Manganese pigments were used in the neolithic paintings in the Lascaux cave, France.
    • Hematite was often used as the red-purple color in the cave paintings of Neolithic artists.
    • A sample of purpurite, or manganese phosphate, from the Packrat Mine in Southern California.
    • A swatch of cobalt violet, popular among the French impressionists.
    • Manganese violet is a synthetic pigment invented in the mid-19th century.
    • Quinacridone violet, a synthetic organic pigment sold under many different names.

    Dyes

    The most famous purple dye in the ancient world was Tyrian purple, made from a type of sea snail called the murex, found around the Mediterranean. (See history section above).[47]

    In western Polynesia, residents of the islands made a purple dye similar to Tyrian purple from the sea urchin. In Central America, the inhabitants made a dye from a different sea snail, the purpura, found on the coasts of Costa Rica and Nicaragua. The Mayans used this color to dye fabric for religious ceremonies, while the Aztecs used it for paintings of ideograms, where it symbolized royalty.[64]

    In the Middle Ages, those who worked with blue and black dyes belonged to separate guilds from those who worked with red and yellow dyes, and were often forbidden to dye any other colors than those of their own guild.[66] Most purple fabric was made by the dyers who worked with red, and who used dye from madder or cochineal, so medieval violet colors were inclined toward red.[67]

    Orcein, or purple moss, was another common purple dye. It was known to the ancient Greeks and Hebrews, and was made from a Mediterranean lichen called archil or dyer’s moss (Roccella tinctoria), combined with an ammoniac, usually urine. Orcein began to achieve popularity again in the 19th century, when violet and purple became the color of demi-mourning, worn after a widow or widower had worn black for a certain time, before he or she returned to wearing ordinary colors.[68]

    From the Middle Ages onward, purple dyes for the clothing of common people were often made from the blackberry or other red fruit of the genus rubus, or from the mulberry. All of these dyes were more reddish than bluish, and faded easily with washing and exposure to sunlight.

    A popular new dye which arrived in Europe from the New World during the Renaissance was made from the wood of the logwood tree (Haematoxylum campechianum), which grew in Spanish Mexico. Depending on the different minerals added to the dye, it produced a blue, red, black or, with the addition of alum, a purple color, it made a good color, but, like earlier dyes, it did not resist sunlight or washing.

    In the 18th century, chemists in England, France and Germany began to create the first synthetic dyes. Two synthetic purple dyes were invented at about the same time. Cudbear is a dye extracted from orchil lichens that can be used to dye wool and silk, without the use of mordant. Cudbear was developed by Dr Cuthbert Gordon of Scotland: production began in 1758, The lichen is first boiled in a solution of ammonium carbonate. The mixture is then cooled and ammonia is added and the mixture is kept damp for 3–4 weeks. Then the lichen is dried and ground to powder. The manufacture details were carefully protected, with a ten-feet high wall being built around the manufacturing facility, and staff consisting of Highlanders sworn to secrecy.

    French purple was developed in France at about the same time. The lichen is extracted by urine or ammonia. Then the extract is acidified, the dissolved dye precipitates and is washed. Then it is dissolved in ammonia again, the solution is heated in air until it becomes purple, then it is precipitated with calcium chloride; the resulting dye was more solid and stable than other purples.

    Cobalt violet is a synthetic pigment that was invented in the second half of the 19th century, and is made by a similar process as cobalt bluecerulean blue and cobalt green. It is the violet pigment most commonly used today by artists. In spite of its name, this pigment produces a purple rather than violet color.[46]

    Mauveine, also known as aniline purple and Perkin’s mauve, was the first synthetic organic chemical dye,[69][70] discovered serendipitously in 1856.

    Its chemical name is 3-amino-2,±9-dimethyl-5-phenyl-7-(p-tolylamino)phenazinium acetate.

    Fuchsine was another synthetic dye made shortly after mauveine. It produced a brilliant fuchsia color.

    In the 1950s, a new family of purple and violet synthetic organic pigments called quinacridone came onto the market. It had originally been discovered in 1896, but were not synthesized until 1936, and not manufactured until the 1950s. The colors in the group range from deep red to bluish purple in color, and have the molecular formula C20H12N2O2. They have strong resistance to sunlight and washing, and are widely used today in oil paints, water colors, and acrylics, as well as in automobile coatings and other industrial coatings.

    • Blackberries were sometimes used to make purple dye in the Middle Ages.
    • This lichen, growing on a tree in Scotland, was used in the 18th century to make a common purple dye called Cudbear.
    • A sample of silk dyed with the original mauveine dye.
    • A sample of fuchsine dye

    Animals

    Anthocyanins

    Certain grapes, eggplants, pansies and other fruits, vegetables and flowers may appear purple due to the presence of natural pigments called anthocyanins. These pigments are found in the leaves, roots, stems, vegetables, fruits and flowers of all plants. They aid photosynthesis by blocking harmful wavelengths of light that would damage the leaves. In flowers, the purple anthocyanins help attract insects who pollinate the flowers. Not all anthocyanins are purple; they vary in color from red to purple to blue, green, or yellow, depending upon the level of their pH.

    • The purple colors of this cauliflower, grapes, fruits, vegetables and flowers comes from natural pigments called anthocyanins.
    • Anthocyanins range in color from red to purple to green, blue and yellow, depending upon the level of their pH.
    • Anthocyanins also account for the purple color in these copper beech trees, and in purple autumn leaves.
    • Anthocyanins produce the purple color in blood oranges.
    • A purple pansy.
    • “Blue” hydrangea is often actually purple.

    Plants and flowers

    Microbiology

    Astronomy

    Geography

    Purple mountains phenomenon

    It has been observed that the greater the distance between a viewers eyes and mountains, the lighter and more blue or purple they will appear. This phenomenon, long recognized by Leonardo da Vinci and other painters, is called aerial perspective or atmospheric perspective. The more distant the mountains are, the less contrast the eye sees between the mountains and the sky.

    The bluish color is caused by an optical effect called Rayleigh scattering. The sunlit sky is blue because air scatters short-wavelength light more than longer wavelengths. Since blue light is at the short wavelength end of the visible spectrum, it is more strongly scattered in the atmosphere than long wavelength red light. The result is that the human eye perceives blue when looking toward parts of the sky other than the sun.[74]

    At sunrise and sunset, the light is passing through the atmosphere at a lower angle, and traveling a greater distance through a larger volume of air. Much of the green and blue is scattered away, and more red light comes to the eye, creating the colors of the sunrise and sunset and making the mountains look purple.

    The phenomenon is referenced in the song “America the Beautiful“, where the lyrics refer to “purple mountains’ majesty” among other features of the United States landscape. A Crayola crayon called Purple Mountain Majesty in reference to the lyric was first formulated in 1993.

    Mythology

    Julius Pollux, a Greek grammarian who lived in the second century AD, attributed the discovery of purple to the Phoenician god and guardian of the city of Tyre, Heracles.[75] According to his account, while walking along the shore with the nymph Tyrus, the god’s dog bit into a murex shell, causing his mouth to turn purple. The nymph subsequently requested that Heracles create a garment for her of that same color, with Heracles obliging her demands giving birth to Tyrian purple.[75][41]

    Associations and symbolism

    Royalty

    In Europe, since some Roman emperors wore a Tyrian purple (purpuratoga praetexta, purple has been the color most associated with power and royalty.[47] The British Royal Family and other European royalty still use it as a ceremonial color on special occasions.[76] In Japan, purple is associated with the emperor and Japanese aristocracy.[2]

    Piety, faith, penitence, and theology

    In the West, purple or violet is a color often associated with piety and religious faith.[76][77] In AD 1464, shortly after the Muslim conquest of Constantinople, which terminated the supply of Tyrian purple to Roman Catholic EuropePope Paul II decreed that cardinals should henceforth wear scarlet instead of purple, the scarlet being dyed with expensive cochineal.[citation needed] Bishops were assigned the color amaranth, being a pale and pinkish purple made then from a less-expensive mixture of indigo and cochineal.

    In the Latin liturgical rites of the Catholic liturgy, purple represents penitenceAnglican and Catholic priests wear a purple stole when they hear confession and a purple stole and chasuble during Advent and Lent. Since the Second Vatican Council of 1962–5, priests may wear purple vestments, but may still wear black ones, when officiating at funerals. The Roman Missal permits black, purple (violet), or white vestments for the funeral Mass. White is worn when a child dies before the age of reason. Students and faculty of theology also wear purple academic dress for graduations and other university ceremonies.[citation needed]

    Purple is also often worn by senior pastors of Protestant churches and bishops of the Anglican Communion.

    The color purple is also associated with royalty in Christianity, being one of the three traditional offices of Jesus Christ, i. e. king, although such a symbolism was assumed from the earlier Roman association or at least also employed by the ancient Romans.

    Vanity, extravagance, individualism

    In Europe and America, purple is the color most associated with vanity, extravagance, and individualism. Among the seven deadly sins, it represents pride. It is a color which is used to attract attention.[78]

    The artificial, materialism and beauty

    Purple is the color most often associated with the artificial and the unconventional. It is the major color that occurs the least frequently in nature, and was the first color to be synthesized.[79]

    Ambiguity and ambivalence

    Purple is the color most associated with ambiguity. Like other colors made by combining two primary colors, it is seen as uncertain and equivocal.[80]

    Mourning

    In Britain, purple is sometimes associated with mourning. In Victorian times, close relatives wore black for the first year following a death (“deep mourning”), and then replaced it with purple or dark green trimmed with black. This is rarely practised today.[81]

    In culture and society

    Cultures of Asian countries

    • The Chinese word for purple, zi, is connected with the North Star, Polaris, or zi Wei in Chinese. In Chinese astrology, the North Star was the home of the Celestial Emperor, the ruler of the heavens. The area around the North Star is called the Purple Forbidden Enclosure in Chinese astronomy. For that reason the Forbidden City in Beijing was also known as the Purple Forbidden City (zi Jin cheng). Purple often represents “the highest,” holiest, and “most sacred values” in China.[77]
    • Purple was a popular color introduced into Japanese dress during the Heian period (794–1185). The dye was made from the root of the alkanet plant (Anchusa officinalis), also known as murasaki in Japanese. At about the same time, Japanese painters began to use a pigment made from the same plant.[82]

    See also: Traditional colors of Japan § Violet series

    • In Thailand, widows in mourning wear the color purple. Purple is also associated with Saturday on the Thai solar calendar.
    • Han purple and Han blue were synthetic colors made by artisans in China during the Han dynasty (206 BC to 220 AD) or even earlier.
    • A Japanese woman in a kimono.
    • Emperor Komyo of Japan. (1322–1380). Purple was the color of the aristocracy in Japan and China.

    Cultures of Europe

    Ancient Rome

    Purple represented the height of Roman virtue and cultural values.[77]

    Medieval Europe

    • In medieval Europe, purple represented leadership and the king.[77]
      • In European alchemy during this time, “the ‘precious purple tincture’” was a term for various substances alchemists hoped to create.[77] The term and goal of the alchemists evoked kingliness,[77] since the divine right of kings was also thought to aid the alchemists’ future.

    Engineering

    The color purple plays a significant role in the traditions of engineering schools across Canada.[83] Purple is also the color of the Engineering Corp in the British Military.[84]

    Idioms and expressions

    • Purple prose refers to pretentious or overly embellished writing. For example, a paragraph containing an excessive number of long and unusual words is called a purple passage.
    • Born to the purple means someone who is born into a life of wealth and privilege. It originally was used to describe the rulers of the Byzantine Empire.
    • purple patch is a period of exceptional success or good luck.[85] The origins are obscure, but it may refer to the symbol of success of the Byzantine Court. Bishops in Byzantium wore a purple patch on their costume as a symbol of rank.
    • Purple haze refers to a state of mind induced by psychedelic drugs, particularly LSD.[86]
    • Wearing purple is a military slang expression in the U.S., Canada and the U.K. for an officer who is serving in a joint assignment with another service, such as an Army officer on assignment to the Navy. The officer is symbolically putting aside his or her traditional uniform color and exclusive loyalty to their service during the joint assignment, though in fact they continue to wear their own service’s uniform.[87]
    • Purple squirrel is a term used by employment recruiters to describe a job candidate with precisely the right education, experience, and qualifications that perfectly fits a job’s multifaceted requirements. The assumption is that the perfect candidate is as rare as a real-life purple squirrel.

    Military

    • The Purple Heart is a United States military decoration awarded in the name of the President to those who have been wounded or killed during their service.

    Politics

    Rhyme

    Purple was a central motif in the career of the musician Prince. His 1984 film and album Purple Rain is one of his best-known works. The title track is Prince’s signature song and was nearly always played in concert. Prince encouraged his fans to wear purple to his concerts.[91][92]

    Roses are red, violets are purple
    Sugar is sweet and so is maple surple

    Sexuality

    Purple is sometimes associated with the lesbiangaybisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community.[93] It is the symbolic color worn on Spirit Day, a commemoration that began in 2010 to show support for young people who are bullied because of their sexual orientation.[94][95] Purple is closely associated with bisexuality, largely in part to the bisexual pride flag which combines pink – representing homosexuality – and blue – representing heterosexuality – to create the bisexual purple.[96][97] The purple hand is another symbol sometimes used by the LGBT community during parades and demonstrations.

    Sports and games

    Cadbury logo as displayed at Cadbury World in Bournville, England

    Business

    The British chocolate company Cadbury chose purple as it was Queen Victoria‘s favourite color.[99] The company trademarked the color purple for chocolates with registrations in 1995[100] and 2004.[101] However, the validity of these trademarks is the matter of an ongoing legal dispute following objections by Nestlé.[102]

    Emblem of King Alfonso IX of León (1180-1230) displayed in the 12th century Tumbo A manuscript in the Santiago de Compostela CathedralGalicia.

    In flags

    • Purple or violet appear in the flags of only two modern sovereign nations, and are merely ancillary colors in both cases. The Flag of Dominica features a sisserou parrot, a national symbol, while the Flag of Nicaragua displays a rainbow in the center, as part of the coat of arms of Nicaragua.
    • The lower band of the flag of the second Spanish republic (1931–39) was colored a tone of purple, to represent the common people as opposed to the red of the Spanish monarchy, unlike other nations of Europe where purple represented royalty and red represented the common people.[103]
    • In Japan, the prefecture of Tokyo‘s flag is purple, as is the flag of Ichikawa and other Japanese municipalities.
    • Porpora, or purpure, a shade of purple, was added late to the list of colors of European heraldry. A purple lion was the symbol of the old Spanish Kingdom of León (910–1230), and it later appeared on the flag of Spain, when the Kingdom of Castile and Kingdom of León merged.
    • Flag of Dominica, features a purple sisserou parrot.
    • Flag of Nicaragua, although at this size the purple band of the rainbow is nearly indistinguishable.
    • Flag of the second Spanish republic (1931–39), known in Spanish as la tricolor, still widely used by left-wing political organizations.
  • BOOK

    book is an object recording information in the form of printed writing or images. Modern books are typically in codex format, composed of many pages bound together and protected by a cover. Older formats include the scroll and the tablet. The term is sometimes used in contrast to periodical literature, such as newspapers or magazines, where new editions are published according to a regular schedule. The book publishing process is the series of steps involved in their creation and dissemination.

    As a conceptual object, a book refers to a written work of substantial length, which may be distributed either physically or digitally as an electronic book (ebook). These works can be broadly classified into fiction (containing invented content, often narratives) and non-fiction (containing content intended as factual truth). A physical book may not contain such a work: for example, it may contain only drawings, engravings, photographspuzzles, or removable content like paper dolls. It may also be left empty for personal use, as in the case of account books, appointment books, autograph booksnotebooksdiaries and sketchbooks.

    Books are sold at both regular stores and specialized bookstores, as well as online for delivery, and can be borrowed from libraries. The reception of books has led to a number of social consequences, including censorship.

    The modern book industry has seen several major changes due to new technologies, including ebooks and audiobooks (recordings of books being read aloud). Awareness of the needs of print-disabled people has led to a rise in formats designed for greater accessibility, such as braille printing and large-print editions. Google Books estimated in 2010 that approximately 130 million total unique books had been published.

    Etymology

    The word book comes from the Old English bōc, which in turn likely comes from the Germanic root *bōk-cognate to “beech“.[1] In Slavic languages like RussianBulgarianMacedonian буква bukva—”letter” is cognate with “beech”. In RussianSerbian and Macedonian, the word букварь (bukvar’) or буквар (bukvar) refers to a primary school textbook that helps young children master the techniques of reading and writing. It is thus conjectured that the earliest Indo-European writings may have been carved on beech wood.[2] The Latin word codex, meaning a book in the modern sense (bound and with separate leaves), originally meant “block of wood”.[3]

    An avid reader or collector of books is a bibliophile, or colloquially a “bookworm“.[4]

    Definitions

    In its modern incarnation, a book is typically composed of many pages (commonly of paperparchment, or vellum) that are bound together along one edge and protected by a cover. By extension, book refers to a physical book’s written, printed, or graphic contents.[5] A single part or division of a longer written work may also be called a book, especially for some works composed in antiquity: each part of Aristotle‘s Physics, for example, is a book.[6]

    It is difficult to create a precise definition of the book that clearly delineates it from other kinds of written material across time and culture. The meaning of the term has changed substantially over time with the evolution of communication media.[7] Historian of books James Raven has suggested that when studying how books have been used to communicate, they should be defined in a broadly inclusive way as “portable, durable, replicable and legible” means of recording and disseminating information, rather than relying on physical or contextual features. This would include, for example, ebooks, newspapers, and quipus (a form of knot-based recording historically used by cultures in Andean South America), but not objects fixed in place such as inscribed monuments.[8][9]

    A stricter definition is given by UNESCO: for the purpose of recording national statistics on book production, it recommended that a book be defined as “a non-periodical printed publication of at least 49 pages, exclusive of the cover pages, published in the country and made available to the public”, distinguishing them from other written material such as pamphlets.[5][10] Kovač et al. have critiqued this definition for failing to account for new digital formats. They propose four criteria (a minimum length; textual content; a form with defined boundaries; and “information architecture” like linear structure and certain textual elements) that form a “hierarchy of the book”, in which formats that fulfill more criteria are considered more similar to the traditional printed book.[11][12]

    Although in academic language a monograph is a specialist work on a single subject, in library and information science the term is used more broadly to mean any non-serial publication complete in one volume (a physical book) or a definite number of volumes (such as a multi-volume novel), in contrast to serial or periodical publications.[13][6]

    History

    Main article: History of books

    The intricate frontispiece of the Diamond Sutra from Tang dynasty China, i.e. 868 CE, the oldest known dated printed book in the world (British Library)

    The history of books became an acknowledged academic discipline in the 1980s. Contributions to the field have come from textual scholarshipcodicologybibliographyphilologypalaeographyart historysocial history and cultural history. It aims to demonstrate that the book as an object, not just the text contained within it, is a conduit of interaction between readers and words. Analysis of each component part of the book can reveal its purpose, where and how it was kept, who read it, ideological and religious beliefs of the period, and whether readers interacted with the text within. Even a lack of such evidence can leave valuable clues about the nature of a particular book.

    The earliest forms of writing were etched on tablets, transitioning to palm leaves and papyrus in ancient times. Parchment and paper later emerged as important substrates for bookmaking, introducing greater durability and accessibility.[14] Across regions like China, the Middle EastEurope, and South Asia, diverse methods of book production evolved. The Middle Ages saw the rise of illuminated manuscripts, intricately blending text and imagery, particularly during the Mughal era in South Asia under the patronage of rulers like Akbar and Shah Jahan.[15][16]

    Prior to the invention of the printing press in the 15th century, made famous by the Gutenberg Bible, each text was a unique handcrafted valuable article, personalized through the design features incorporated by the scribe, owner, bookbinder, and illustrator.[17] Its creation marked a pivotal moment for book production. Innovations like movable type and steam-powered presses accelerated manufacturing processes and contributed to increased literacy rates. Copyright protection also emerged, securing authors’ rights and shaping the publishing landscape.[18] The Late Modern Period introduced chapbooks, catering to a wider range of readers, and mechanization of the printing process further enhanced efficiency.

    The 20th century witnessed the advent of typewriters, computers, and desktop publishing, transforming document creation and printing. Digital advancements in the 21st century led to the rise of ebooks, propelled by the popularity of ereaders and accessibility features. While discussions about the potential decline of physical books have surfaced, print media has proven remarkably resilient, continuing to thrive as a multi-billion dollar industry.[19] Additionally, efforts to make literature more inclusive emerged, with the development of Braille for the visually impaired and the creation of spoken books, providing alternative ways for individuals to access and enjoy literature.[20]

    Fragments of the Instructions of Shuruppak, dated to the early 3rd millennium BC

    Tablet

    Main articles: Clay tablet and 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.[21] The etymology of the word codex (block of wood) suggests that it may have developed from wooden wax tablets.[22]

    Scroll

    Main article: Scroll

    Book of the Dead of Hunefer; c. 1275 BC; ink and pigments on papyrus; 45 × 90.5 cm; British Museum (London)

    Scrolls made from papyrus were first used for writing in Ancient Egypt, perhaps as early as the First Dynasty, although the earliest evidence is from the account books of King Neferirkare Kakai of the Fifth Dynasty (about 2400 BC). According to Herodotus (History 5:58), the Phoenicians brought writing and papyrus to Greece around the 10th or 9th century BC. Whether made from papyrus, parchment, or paper, scrolls were the dominant writing medium in the Hellenistic, Roman, Chinese, Hebrew, and Macedonian cultures. The codex dominated in the Roman world by late antiquity, but scrolls persisted much longer in Asia.[citation needed]

    Codex

    Main article: Codex

    A Chinese bamboo book meets the modern definition of codex.

    The codex is the ancestor of the modern book, consisting of sheets of uniform size bound along one edge and typically held between two covers made of some more robust material. Isidore of Seville (died 636) explained the then-current relation between a codex, book, and scroll in his Etymologiae (VI.13): “A codex is composed of many books; a book is of one scroll. It is called codex by way of metaphor from the trunks (codex) of trees or vines, as if it were a wooden stock, because it contains in itself a multitude of books, as it were of branches”.

    The first written mention of the codex as a form of book is from Martial, in his Apophoreta CLXXXIV at the end of the first century, where he praises its compactness. However, the codex never gained much popularity in the pagan Hellenistic world, and only within the Christian community did it gain widespread use.[23] This change happened gradually during the 3rd and 4th centuries, and the reasons for adopting the codex form of the book were several: the format was more economical than the scroll, as both sides of the writing material can be used; and it was portable, searchable, and easier to conceal. The Christian authors may also have wanted to distinguish their writings from the pagan and Judaic texts written on scrolls.

    The codices of pre-Columbian Mesoamerica had the same form as the European codex, but were instead made with long folded strips of either fig bark (amatl) or plant fibers, often with a layer of whitewash applied before writing. New World codices were written as late as the 16th century (see Maya codices and Aztec codices). Those written before the Spanish conquests seem all to have been single long sheets folded concertina-style, sometimes written on both sides of the local amatl paper.

    Manuscript

    Main article: Manuscript

    See also: Palm-leaf manuscript

    Folio 14 recto of the 5th-century Vergilius Romanus contains an author portrait of Virgil. Note the bookcase (capsa), reading stand and the text written without word spacing in rustic capitals.

    Manuscripts, handwritten and hand-copied documents, were the only form of writing before the invention and widespread adoption of print. Advances were made in the techniques used to create them.

    In the early Western Roman Empiremonasteries continued Latin writing traditions related to Christianity, and the clergy were the predominant readers and copyists. The bookmaking process was long and laborious. They were usually written on parchment or vellum, writing surfaces made from processed animal skin. The parchment had to be prepared, then the unbound pages were planned and ruled with a blunt tool or lead, after which the text was written by a scribe, who usually left blank areas for illustration and rubrication. Finally, it was bound by a bookbinder.[24]

    Because of the difficulties involved in making and copying books, they were expensive and rare. Smaller monasteries usually had only a few dozen books. By the 9th century, larger collections held around 500 volumes and even at the end of the Middle Ages, the papal library in Avignon and Paris library of the Sorbonne held only around 2,000 volumes.[25]

    The rise of universities in the 13th century led to an increased demand for books, and a new system for copying appeared. The books were divided into unbound leaves (pecia), which were lent out to different copyists, so the speed of book production was considerably increased. The system was maintained by secular stationers guilds, which produced both religious and non-religious material.[26]

    Burgundian author and scribe Jean Miélot, from his Miracles de Notre Dame, 15th century

    In India, bound manuscripts made of birch bark or palm leaf had existed since antiquity.[27] The text in palm leaf manuscripts was inscribed with a knife pen on rectangular cut and cured palm leaf sheets; coloring was then applied to the surface and wiped off, leaving the ink in the incised grooves. Each sheet typically had a hole through which a string could pass, and with these the sheets were tied together with a string to bind like a book.

    Woodblock printing

    Bagh print, a traditional woodblock printing technique that originated in Bagh, Madhya Pradesh, India

    Main article: Woodblock printing

    In woodblock printing, a relief image of an entire page is carved into blocks of wood, inked, and used to print copies of that page. It originated in the Han dynasty before 220 AD, used to print textiles and later paper, and was widely used throughout East Asia. The oldest dated book printed by this method is The Diamond Sutra (868 AD). The method (called woodcut when used in art) arrived in Europe in the early 14th century. Books (known as block-books), as well as playing-cards and religious pictures, began to be produced by this method. Creating an entire book was a painstaking process, requiring a hand-carved block for each page, and the wooden blocks could crack if stored for too long.

    Movable type and incunabula

    Main articles: Movable type and Incunable

    Selected Teachings of Buddhist Sages and Son Masters, the earliest known book printed with movable metal type, printed in Korea, in 1377, Bibliothèque nationale de France

    The Chinese inventor Bi Sheng made movable type of earthenware c. 1045, but there are no known surviving examples of his printing. Around 1450, Johannes Gutenberg independently invented movable type in Europe, along with innovations in casting the type based on a matrix and hand mould. This invention gradually made books less expensive to produce and more widely available. Early printed books, single sheets and images which were created before 1501 in Europe are known as incunables or incunabula.[28]

    A 15th-century Incunable

    19th century to present

    Steam-powered printing presses became popular in the early 19th century. These machines could print 1,100 sheets per hour,[29] but workers could only set 2,000 letters per hour.[citation needed] Monotype and linotype typesetting machines were introduced in the late 19th century. They could set more than 6,000 letters per hour and an entire line of type at once. There have been numerous improvements in the printing press. In mid-20th century, European book production had risen to over 200,000 titles per year.

    During the 20th century, libraries faced an ever-increasing rate of publishing, sometimes called an information explosion. The advent of electronic publishing and the internet means that new information is often published online rather than in printed books, for example through a digital library. “Print on demand” technologies, which make it possible to print as few as one book at a time, have made self-publishing (and vanity publishing) much easier and more affordable, and has allowed publishers to keep low-selling books in print rather than declaring them out of print.

    Contemporary publishing

    Main article: Publishing

    Presently, books are typically produced by a publishing company in order to be put on the market by distributors and bookstores. The publisher negotiates a formal legal agreement with authors in order to obtain the copyright to works, then arranges for them to be produced and sold. The major steps of the publishing process are: editing and proofreading the work to be published; designing the printed book; manufacturing the books; and selling the books, including marketing and promotion. Each of these steps is usually taken on by third-party companies paid by the publisher.[30] This is in contrast to self-publishing, where an author pays for the production and distribution of their own work and manages some or all steps of the publishing process.[31]

    English-language publishing is currently dominated by the so-called “Big Five” publishers: Penguin Random HouseHachette Book GroupHarperCollinsSimon & Schuster, and Macmillan Publishers. They were estimated to make up almost 60 percent of the market for general-readership books in 2021.[32]

    Design

    Main article: Book design

    Book design is the art of incorporating the content, style, format, design, and sequence of the various elements of a book into a coherent unit.[33]

    Layout

    See also: Page layout

    Diagram of a bookBelly bandFlapEndpaperCoverHeadFore edgeTailRight page (recto if printing is left to right, verso if right to left)Left page (verso if printing is left to right, recto if right to left)Gutter

    Modern books are organized according to a particular format called the book’s layout. Although there is great variation in layout, modern books tend to adhere to a set of rules with regard to what the parts of the layout are and what their content usually includes. A basic layout will include a front cover, a back cover and the book’s content which is called its body copy or content pages. The front cover often bears the book’s title (and subtitle, if any) and the name of its author or editor(s). The inside front cover page is usually left blank in both hardcover and paperback books. The next section, if present, is the book’s front matter, which includes all textual material after the front cover but not part of the book’s content such as a foreword, a dedication, a table of contents and publisher data such as the book’s edition or printing number and place of publication. Between the body copy and the back cover goes the end matter which would include any indices, sets of tables, diagrams, glossaries or lists of cited works (though an edited book with several authors usually places cited works at the end of each authored chapter). The inside back cover page, like that inside the front cover, is usually blank. The back cover is the usual place for the book’s ISBN and maybe a photograph of the author(s)/ editor(s), perhaps with a short introduction to them. Also here often appear plot summaries, barcodes and excerpted reviews of the book.[34]

    The body of the books is usually divided into parts, chapters, sections and sometimes subsections that are composed of at least a paragraph or more.

    Size

    Main article: Book size

    The size of a book is generally measured by the height against the width of a leaf, or sometimes the height and width of its cover.[35] A series of terms commonly used by contemporary libraries and publishers for the general sizes of modern books ranges from folio (the largest), to quarto (smaller) and octavo (still smaller). Historically, these terms referred to the format of the book, a technical term used by printers and bibliographers to indicate the size of a leaf in terms of the size of the original sheet. For example, a quarto was a book printed on sheets of paper folded in half twice, with the first fold at right angles to the second, to produce 4 leaves (or 8 pages), each leaf one fourth the size of the original sheet printed – note that a leaf refers to the single piece of paper, whereas a page is one side of a leaf. Because the actual format of many modern books cannot be determined from examination of the books, bibliographers may not use these terms in scholarly descriptions.

    Illustration

    Main article: Book illustration

    illustration of crowing rooster facing the rising sun with a man, dressed in nightcap and sleeping gown, leaning out the window. Background shows two small figures walking along a fenced road.
    Illustration from “The House that Jack Built” in The Complete Collection of Pictures & Songs; engraving and printing by Edmund Evans, illustration by Randolph Caldecott (1887)

    While some form of book illustration has existed since the invention of writing, the modern Western tradition of illustration began with 15th-century block books, in which the book’s text and images were cut into the same block.[36] Techniques such as engravingetching, and lithography have also been influential.

    Manufacturing

    Several book spines displayed on a shelf

    The methods used for the printing and binding of books continued fundamentally unchanged from the 15th century into the early 20th century. While there was more mechanization, a book printer in 1900 still used movable metal type assembled into words, lines, and pages to create copies. Modern paper books are printed on paper designed specifically for printing. Traditionally, book papers are off-white or low-white papers (easier to read), are opaque to minimize the show-through of text from one side of the page to the other and are (usually) made to tighter caliper or thickness specifications, particularly for case-bound books. Different paper qualities are used depending on the type of book: Machine finished coated paperswoodfree uncoated paperscoated fine papers and special fine papers are common paper grades.

    Today, the majority of books are printed by offset lithography.[37] When a book is printed, the pages are laid out on the plate so that after the printed sheet is folded the pages will be in the correct sequence. Books tend to be manufactured nowadays in a few standard sizes. The sizes of books are usually specified as “trim size”: the size of the page after the sheet has been folded and trimmed. The standard sizes result from sheet sizes (therefore machine sizes) which became popular 200 or 300 years ago, and have come to dominate the industry. British conventions in this regard prevail throughout the English-speaking world, except for the US. The European book manufacturing industry works to a completely different set of standards.

    Hardcover books have a stiff binding, while paperback books have cheaper, flexible covers which tend to be less durable. Publishers may produce low-cost pre-publication copies known as galleys or “bound proofs” for promotional purposes, such as generating reviews in advance of publication. Galleys are usually made as cheaply as possible, since they are not intended for sale.

    Printing

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    Some books, particularly those with shorter runs (i.e. with fewer copies) will be printed on sheet-fed offset presses, but most books are now printed on web presses, which are fed by a continuous roll of paper, and can consequently print more copies in a shorter time. As the production line circulates, a complete “book” is collected together in one stack of pages, and another machine carries out the folding, pleating, and stitching of the pages into bundles of signatures (sections of pages) ready to go into the gathering line. The pages of a book are printed two at a time, not as one complete book. Excess numbers are printed to make up for any spoilage due to make-readies or test pages to assure final print quality.

    make-ready is the preparatory work carried out by the pressmen to get the printing press up to the required quality of impression. Included in make-ready is the time taken to mount the plate onto the machine, clean up any mess from the previous job, and get the press up to speed. As soon as the pressman decides that the printing is correct, all the make-ready sheets will be discarded, and the press will start making books. Similar make readies take place in the folding and binding areas, each involving spoilage of paper.

    Recent developments in book manufacturing include the development of digital printing. Book pages are printed, in much the same way as an office copier works, using toner rather than ink. Each book is printed in one pass, not as separate signatures. Digital printing has permitted the manufacture of much smaller quantities than offset, in part because of the absence of make readies and of spoilage. Digital printing has opened up the possibility of print-on-demand, where no books are printed until after an order is received from a customer.

    12-metre-high (40 ft) sculpture of a stack of books at the Berlin Walk of Ideas, commemorating the invention of modern book printing

    Binding

    Main article: Bookbinding

    After the signatures are folded and gathered, they move into the bindery. In the middle of last century there were still many trade binders—stand-alone binding companies which did no printing, specializing in binding alone. At that time, because of the dominance of letterpress printing, typesetting and printing took place in one location, and binding in a different factory. When type was all metal, a typical book’s worth of type would be bulky, fragile and heavy. The less it was moved in this condition the better: so printing would be carried out in the same location as the typesetting. Printed sheets on the other hand could easily be moved. Now, because of increasing computerization of preparing a book for the printer, the typesetting part of the job has flowed upstream, where it is done either by separately contracting companies working for the publisher, by the publishers themselves, or even by the authors. Mergers in the book manufacturing industry mean that it is now unusual to find a bindery which is not also involved in book printing (and vice versa).

    If the book is a hardback its path through the bindery will involve more points of activity than if it is a paperback. Unsewn binding is now increasingly common. The signatures of a book can also be held together by “Smyth sewing” using needles, “McCain sewing”, using drilled holes often used in schoolbook binding, or “notch binding”, where gashes about an inch long are made at intervals through the fold in the spine of each signature. The rest of the binding process is similar in all instances. Sewn and notch bound books can be bound as either hardbacks or paperbacks.

    Finishing

    “Making cases” happens off-line and prior to the book’s arrival at the binding line. In the most basic case-making, two pieces of cardboard are placed onto a glued piece of cloth with a space between them into which is glued a thinner board cut to the width of the spine of the book. The overlapping edges of the cloth (about 5/8″ all round) are folded over the boards, and pressed down to adhere. After case-making the stack of cases will go to the foil stamping area for adding decorations and type.

    Retail and distribution

    Main article: Bookselling

    Bookselling is the commercial trading of books that forms the retail and distribution end of the publishing process.

    Accessible publishing

    Main article: Accessible publishingAn example of someone using a screen reader showing documents that are inaccessible, readable and accessible

    Accessible publishing is an approach to publishing and book design whereby books and other texts are made available in alternative formats designed to aid or replace the reading process. It is particularly relevant for people who are blind, visually impaired or otherwise print-disabled.

    Alternative formats that have been developed to aid different people to read include varieties of larger fonts, specialized fonts for certain kinds of reading disabilities, braille, ebooks, and automated audiobooks and DAISY digital talking books.

    Accessible publishing has been made easier through developments in technology such as print on demand, ebook readers, the XML structured data format, the EPUB3 format and the Internet.

    Audiobooks

    Main article: Audiobook

    An audiobook or talking book is a recording of a book or other work being read out loud. A reading of the complete text is described as “unabridged”, while readings of shorter versions are abridgements.

    Spoken audio has been available in schools and public libraries and to a lesser extent in music shops since the 1930s. Many spoken word albums were made prior to the age of cassettescompact discs, and downloadable audio, often of poetry and plays rather than books. It was not until the 1980s that the medium began to attract book retailers, and then book retailers started displaying audiobooks on bookshelves rather than in separate displays.

    Ebooks

    Main article: Ebook

    Kindle e-reader

    An ebook (short for electronic book), also spelled e-book or eBook, is a book publication made available in electronic form, consisting of text, images, or both, readable on the flat-panel display of computers or other electronic devices.[38] Although sometimes defined as “an electronic version of a printed book”,[39] some ebooks exist without a printed equivalent. Ebooks can be read on dedicated e-reader devices and on any computer device that features a controllable viewing screen, including desktop computerslaptopstablets and smartphones.

    In some markets, the sale of printed books has decreased due to the increased use of ebooks. However, printed books still largely outsell ebooks, and many people have a preference for print.[40][41][42][43]

    Dummy books

    Cigarette smuggling with a book

    Dummy books (or faux books) are books that are designed to imitate a real book by appearance to deceive people, some books may be whole with empty pages, others may be hollow or in other cases, there may be a whole panel carved with spines which are then painted to look like books, titles of some books may also be fictitious.

    There are many reasons to have dummy books on display such as; to allude visitors of the vast wealth of information in their possession and to inflate the owner’s appearance of wealth, to conceal something,[44] for shop displays or for decorative purposes.

    In early 19th century at Gwrych CastleNorth WalesLloyd Hesketh Bamford-Hesketh was known for his vast collection of books at his library, however, at the later part of that same century, the public became aware that parts of his library was a fabrication, dummy books were built and then locked behind glass doors to stop people from trying to access them, from this a proverb was born, “Like Hesky’s library, all outside”.[45][46]

    Content

    This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources in this section. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (February 2024) (Learn how and when to remove this message)
    Novels in a bookstore

    Libraries, bookstores, and collections commonly divide books into fiction and non-fiction, though other types exist beyond this. Other books, which remain unpublished or are primarily published as part of different business functions (such as phone directories) may not be sold by bookstores or collected by libraries. Manuscripts, logbooks and other records may be classified and stored differently by special collections or archives.

    Fiction

    Fiction books contain invented material, typically narratives. Other literary forms such as poetry are included in the broad category. Most fiction is additionally categorized by literary form and genre.

    The novel is the most common form of fiction book. Novels are extended works of narrative fiction, typically featuring a plot, setting, themes and characters. The novel has had a tremendous impact on entertainment and publishing markets.[47][better source needed] A novella is a term sometimes used for fiction prose typically between 17,500 and 40,000 words, and a novelette between 7,500 and 17,500. A short story may be any length up to 10,000 words, but these word lengths vary.

    Comic books or graphic novels are books in which the story is illustrated. The characters and narrators use speech or thought bubbles to express verbal language.

    Non-fiction

    A page from a dictionary

    Non-fiction books are in principle based on fact, encompassing subjects such as history, politics, social and cultural issues, as well as autobiographies and memoirs. Nearly all academic literature is non-fiction.

    Reference

    Main article: Reference work

    Reference books are non-fiction books intended to be quickly referred to for information, rather than read beginning to end. The writing style used in these works is informative; the authors avoid opinions and the use of the first person, and emphasize facts.

    An almanac is a very general reference book, usually one-volume, with lists of data and information on many topics. An encyclopedia is a book or set of books designed to have more in-depth articles on many topics. A book listing words, their etymology, meanings, and other information is called a dictionary. An atlas is a book containing a collection of maps. A specialized reference work giving information about a particular field or technique, often intended for professional use, is often called a handbook. Books which try to list references and abstracts in a certain broad area may be called an index, such as Engineering Index, or abstracts such as chemical abstracts and biological abstracts.

    Technical

    See also: Technical writing

    An atlas

    Books with technical information on how to do something or how to use some equipment are called instruction manuals. Other popular how-to books include cookbooks and home improvement books.

    Educational

    Students often carry textbooks and schoolbooks for study purposes. Lap books are a learning tool created by students. Elementary school pupils often use workbooks, which are published with spaces or blanks to be filled by them for study or homework. In US higher education, it is common for a student to take an exam using a blue book.

    Religious

    Main article: Religious text

    Religious texts, including scripture, are texts which various religions consider to be of central importance to their religious tradition. They often feature a compilation or discussion of beliefs, ritual practices, moral commandments and laws, ethical conduct, spiritual aspirations, and admonitions for fostering a religious community.

    Hymnals are books with collections of musical hymns that can typically be found in churchesPrayerbooks or missals are books that contain written prayers and are commonly carried by monksnuns, and other devoted followers or clergy.

    Children’s books

    This section is an excerpt from Children’s literature.[edit]

    A mother reads to her children in a mid- to late 19th century lithograph by Jessie Willcox Smith.

    Children’s literature or juvenile literature includes stories, books, magazines, and poems that are created for children. Modern children’s literature is classified in two different ways: genre or the intended age of the reader, from picture books for the very young to young adult fiction.Children’s literature can be traced to traditional stories like fairy tales, which have only been identified as children’s literature since the eighteenth century, and songs, part of a wider oral tradition, which adults shared with children before publishing existed. The development of early children’s literature, before printing was invented, is difficult to trace. Even after printing became widespread, many classic “children’s” tales were originally created for adults and later adapted for a younger audience. Since the fifteenth century much literature has been aimed specifically at children, often with a moral or religious message. Children’s literature has been shaped by religious sources, like Puritan traditions, or by more philosophical and scientific standpoints with the influences of Charles Darwin and John Locke.[48] The late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries are known as the “Golden Age of Children’s Literature” because many classic children’s books were published then.

    A page from a notebook used as handwritten diary

    Unpublished

    See also: List of unpublished books

    Many books are only used to record personal ideas, notes, and accounts, such as notebookslogbookscommonplace books, and diaries. These books are rarely published and are typically destroyed or remain private.

    Address booksphone books, and calendar/appointment books are commonly used for recording appointments, meetings and personal contact information. Businesses historically used accounting books such as journals and ledgers to record financial data in a practice called bookkeeping (now usually held on computers rather than in hand-written form).

    Collection and classification

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    Personal and public libraries, archives and other forms of book collection have led to the creation of many different organization and classification strategies. In the 19th and 20th century, libraries and library professionals systematized book collecting and classification systems to respond to the growing industry. The most widely used system is ISBN, which has provided unique identifiers for books since 1970.

    Libraries

    Main article: Library

    The Library of Celsus in Ephesus, Turkey, was built in 135 AD, and could house around 12,000 scrolls.

    A library is a collection of books, and possibly other materials and media, that is accessible for use by its members and members of allied institutions. Libraries provide physical (hard copies) or digital (soft copies) materials, and may be a physical location, a virtual space, or both. A library’s collection normally includes printed materials which may be borrowed, and usually also includes a reference section of publications which may only be utilized inside the premises. Resources such as commercial releases of films, television programs, other video recordings, radio, music and audio recordings may be available in many formats. These include DVDsBlu-raysCDscassettes, or other applicable formats such as microform. They may also provide access to information, music or other content held on bibliographic databases.

    Libraries can vary widely in size and may be organized and maintained by a public body such as a government, an institution (such as a school or museum), a corporation, or a private individual. In addition to providing materials, libraries also provide the services of librarians who are trained experts in finding, selecting, circulating and organising information while interpreting information needs and navigating and analyzing large amounts of information with a variety of resources.

    Library buildings often provide quiet areas for studying, as well as common areas for group study and collaboration, and may provide public facilities for access to their electronic resources, such as computers and access to the Internet.

    The library’s clientele and general services offered vary depending on its type: users of a public library have different needs from those of a special library or academic library, for example. Libraries may also be community hubs, where programs are made available and people engage in lifelong learning. Modern libraries extend their services beyond the physical walls of the building by providing material accessible by electronic means, including from home via the Internet.

    Identification and classification

    ISBN with barcode

    In 2011, the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) created the International Standard Bibliographic Description (ISBD) in order to standardize descriptions in bibliographies and library catalogs. Each book is specified by an International Standard Book Number, or ISBN, which is meant to be unique to every edition of every book produced by participating publishers, worldwide. It is managed by the ISBN Society. An ISBN has four parts: the first part is the country code, the second the publisher code, and the third the title code. The last part is a check digit, and can take values from 0–9 and X (10). The EAN Barcodes numbers for books are derived from the ISBN by prefixing 978, for Bookland, and calculating a new check digit.

    Commercial publishers in industrialized countries generally assign ISBNs to their books, so buyers may presume that the ISBN is part of a total international system, with no exceptions. However, many government publishers, in industrial as well as developing countries, do not participate fully in the ISBN system, and publish books which do not have ISBNs. A large or public collection requires a catalogue. Codes called “call numbers” relate the books to the catalogue, and determine their locations on the shelves. Call numbers are based on a Library classification system. The call number is placed on the spine of the book, normally a short distance before the bottom, and inside. Institutional or national standards, such as ANSI/NISO Z39.41 – 1997, establish the correct way to place information (such as the title, or the name of the author) on book spines, and on “shelvable” book-like objects, such as containers for DVDsvideo tapes and software.

    Books on library shelves and call numbers visible on the spines

    One of the earliest and most widely known systems of cataloguing books is the Dewey Decimal System. Another widely known system is the Library of Congress Classification system. Both systems are biased towards subjects which were well represented in US libraries when they were developed, and hence have problems handling new subjects, such as computing, or subjects relating to other cultures.[49] Information about books and authors can be stored in databases like online general-interest book databasesMetadata, which means “data about data” is information about a book. Metadata about a book may include its title, ISBN or other classification number (see above), the names of contributors (author, editor, illustrator) and publisher, its date and size, the language of the text, its subject matter, etc.

    Classification systems

    Conservation

    This section is an excerpt from Conservation and restoration of books, manuscripts, documents, and ephemera.[edit]

    A conservation technician examining an artwork under a microscope at the Indianapolis Museum of Art

    The conservation and restoration of books, manuscripts, documents, and ephemera is an activity dedicated to extending the life of items of historical and personal value made primarily from paperparchment, and leather. When applied to cultural heritage, conservation activities are generally undertaken by a conservator. The primary goal of conservation is to extend the lifespan of the object as well as maintaining its integrity by keeping all additions reversible. Conservation of books and paper involves techniques of bookbindingrestoration, paper chemistry, and other material technologies including preservation and archival techniques.[50]

    Book and paper conservation seeks to prevent and, in some cases, reverse damage due to handling, inherent vice, and the environment. Conservators determine proper methods of storage for books and documents, including boxes and shelving to prevent further damage and promote long term storage. Carefully chosen methods and techniques of active conservation can both reverse damage and prevent further damage in batches or single-item treatments based on the value of the book or document.Historically, book restoration techniques were less formalized and carried out by various roles and training backgrounds. Nowadays, the conservation of paper documents and books is often performed by a professional conservator.[51][52] Many paper or book conservators are members of a professional body, such as the American Institute for Conservation (AIC) or the Guild of Bookworkers (both in the United States), the Archives and Records Association (in the United Kingdom and Ireland), or the Institute of Conservation (ICON) (in the United Kingdom).[53]

    Social and cultural issues

    Reception

    Main article: Literary criticism

    The impact of books can be various, and record of that reception comes in several formats: starting with initial public reception in contemporary newspapers, pop culture and correspondence, and then developing with different forms of literary criticism by professional and academic critics. For the publishing industry the “book review” is an important part of increasing awareness and reception of a book: able to make or break the public opinion about a new book.[citation needed]

    Book reviews

    This section is an excerpt from Book review.[edit]

    book review is a form of literary criticism in which a book is merely described (summary review) or analyzed based on content, style, and merit.[54]

    A book review may be a primary source, an opinion piece, a summary review, or a scholarly view.[55] Books can be reviewed for printed periodicals, magazines, and newspapers, as school work, or for book websites on the Internet. A book review’s length may vary from a single paragraph to a substantial essay. Such a review may evaluate the book based on personal taste. Reviewers may use the occasion of a book review for an extended essay that can be closely or loosely related to the subject of the book, or to promulgate their ideas on the topic of a fiction or non-fiction work.Some journals are devoted to book reviews, and reviews are indexed in databases such as the Book Review Index and Kirkus Reviews; but many more book reviews can be found in newspaper and scholarly databases such as Arts and Humanities Citation IndexSocial Sciences Citation Index, and discipline-specific databases.

    Book censorship and bans

    Book censorship is the act of some authority taking measures to suppress ideas and information within a book.[56] Censorship is “the regulation of free speech and other forms of entrenched authority”.[57] Censors typically identify as either a concerned parent, community members who react to a text without reading, or local or national organizations.[58] Books have been censored by authoritarian dictatorships to silence dissent, such as the People’s Republic of ChinaNazi Germany and the Soviet Union. Books are most often censored for age appropriateness, offensive language, sexual content, amongst other reasons.[59] Similarly, religions may issue lists of banned books, such as the historical example of the Catholic Church‘s Index Librorum Prohibitorum and bans of such books as Salman Rushdie’s The Satanic Verses by Ayatollah Khomeini,[60] which do not always carry legal force. Censorship can be enacted at the national or subnational level as well, and can carry legal penalties. In many cases, the authors of these books could face harsh sentences, exile from the country, or even execution.[61][62]

    Book burning

    This section is an excerpt from Book burning.[edit]

    Close-up of a book being burned

    Book burning is the deliberate destruction by fire of books or other written materials, usually carried out in a public context. The burning of books represents an element of censorship and usually proceeds from a cultural, religious, or political opposition to the materials in question.[63] Book burning can be an act of contempt for the book’s contents or author, intended to draw wider public attention to this opposition, or conceal the information contained in the text from being made public, such as diaries or ledgers. Burning and other methods of destruction are together known as biblioclasm or libricide.

    In some cases, the destroyed works are irreplaceable and their burning constitutes a severe loss to cultural heritage. Examples include the burning of books and burying of scholars under China’s Qin dynasty (213–210 BCE), the destruction of the House of Wisdom during the Mongol siege of Baghdad (1258), the destruction of Aztec codices by Itzcoatl (1430s), the burning of Maya codices on the order of bishop Diego de Landa (1562),[64] and the burning of Jaffna Public Library in Sri Lanka (1981).[65]In other cases, such as the Nazi book burnings, copies of the destroyed books survive, but the instance of book burning becomes emblematic of a harsh and oppressive regime which is seeking to censor or silence some aspect of prevailing culture.