Page - 17 - in JRFM - Journal Religion Film Media, Volume 07/01

Materiality of Religious Books | 17www.jrfm.eu 2021, 7/1, 13–32 turgical books intertwine biblical texts with hymns and chants and with prayers which appear to be regulated down to the last syllable. Usually, liturgical books provide texts (and musical notation) that are to be performed aloud. In addition to their authoritative character, they are performative and interactive. Are these requirements manifest in these books’ materiality and presentation? When it comes to the category “devotional books”, we are confronted with an immeasurable variety of book types, from prayer books to pilgrim books and miracle books. For our purposes, we will consider only prayer books, and among them specifically Books of Hours. In some aspects like biblical texts, devotional books are focused on the formation of the reader’s private spiri - tuality and need therefore to be attractive to the individual and easy to handle. How do these requirements affect the material appearance of such books? This brief characterisation of book genres already suggests different re- quirements with regard to their manufacture. Additional fundamental as- pects can also be decisive for a book’s material presentation (fig. 2). Crucial factors Book makers have always been confronted a quartet of concerns that deter- mine the framework for their activity: availability of materials, affordability, technique and number of copies. Availability of Materials (and Technical Skills) From the very beginnings of book production and right up to the present day, the material quality of books has always been largely dependent on the avail- ability of the most elementary “ingredients”, i. e. writing surface (stone, clay, parchment, leather, paper, etc.) and inks and dyes (fig. 3). Some materials are highly durable, while others are more ephemeral (e. g. papyrus) and survive only under very favourable climatic conditions. Yet producers did not always have a choice of materials, often having instead to make do with the material available. In times of war and economic scarcity, for example, older books were often recycled by effacing a previous text and filling the folios with new content. Throughout the history of book confection – and the greater part of this history was dominated by the production of religious books, as our old and rare book collections attest – book makers were at times forced to use