The Book on the Bookshelf by Henry Petroski

The author explores the theme of books and bookshelves. He asks: how did books come to be displayed vertically and spine out on shelves? From papyrus scrolls to precious medieval codices to the book as we know it, the readers will follow the evolution of making and storing of books to learn how book collections were managed in different times.

The book in dust jacket

This is a generously illustrated and well written book about books, how they came to be and how people learned to store them.

One evening, while reading in my study, I looked up from my book and saw my bookshelves in a new and different light. Instead of being just places on which to store books, the shelves themselves intrigued me as artifacts in their own right, and I wondered how they came to be as they are. Question led to question, and I began to look for answers in—where else?—books. Books led me to libraries where I naturally encountered more bookshelves. I have found that, as simple as the bookshelf might appear to be as an object of construction and utility, the story of its development, which is intertwined with that of the book itself, is curious, mysterious, and fascinating.

From the preface by the author

In the appendix the author provides more than twenty methods of arranging books in a personal library.