This volume is primarily based on the monumental Encyclopedia Judaica which was published in 1972 in Jerusalem. Throughout the 16 volumes of that immense work, the story of the Hebrew book is scattered, and its constituent parts are presented, as is fitting, in an encyclopedia manner. For the purpose of this book, all that information was gathered, re-edited and re-organized to present this fascinating subject to the reader in a form which, to quote the biblical phrase about an early piece of Hebrew writing, is "plain upon the tables, that a man may read it swiftly." Clearly, the present editors are entirely responsible for the material as it appears in this volume.