Thebookswhenrolledup，wereboundupwiththeseumbilici，andweregenerallykeptincylindricalboxesorcapsae，atermfromwhichtheMediaeval“capsula。”
orbook-coverwasderived。“ThemodeinwhichthestudentsheldtherollsinordertoreadfromthemiswellshowninapaintinginthehouseofasurgeonatPompeii。Oneofthestaves，withthepapyrusrolledroundit，washeldineachhand，atadistanceapartequaltothewidthofoneormoreofthetransversecolumnsofwriting。Assoonastheeyewascarrieddowntothebottomofacolumn，onehandrolledupandtheotherunrolledsufficientofthepapyrustobringafreshcolumnoppositetothereader’seye，andsoonuntilthewholewaswoundroundoneofthestaves，when，ofcourse，thestudenthadarrivedattheendofhisbook。”
Eumenes，kingofPergamus，beingunabletoprocuretheEgyptianpapyrus，throughthejealousyofoneofthePtolemies，whooccupiedhimselfinformingarivallibrarytotheonewhichsubsequentlybecamesocelebratedatPergamus，introducedtheuseofParchmentproperly“dressed“fortakinginkandpigmentsandhencethederivationoftheword“pergamena“asappliedtoparchmentorvellum，theformersubstancebeingthepreparedskinofsheep，andthelatterofcalves。
Thesheetsofparchmentwerejoinedendtoend，asthesheetsofpapyrushadbeen，andwhenwrittenupon，ononesideonly，andinnarrowcolumnsacrossthebreadthofthescroll，wererolleduparoundstavesandboundwithstrings，towhichsealsofwaxwereoccasionallyattached，inplaceofthemorecommonleadenbullae。
Thecustomofdividingwax，ivory，woodandmetalMSS。intopagesandinthiswayintobookformissaidbySuetoniustohavebeenintroducedbyJuliusCaesar，whoseletterstotheSenateweresomadeup，andafterwhosetimethepracticebecameusualforalldocumentseitheraddressedto，orissuingfromthatbody，ortoorfromtheEmperors。Asthatformsubsequentlycreptintogeneraluse，thebookswereknownas“codices；“andhencetheordinarytermasappliedtomanuscriptvolumes。