Book vs. Scroll — What's the Difference?
By Fiza Rafique & Maham Liaqat — Updated on April 8, 2024
Books are bound written works, while scrolls are ancient documents rolled around sticks.
Difference Between Book and Scroll
Table of Contents
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Key Differences
Books typically consist of multiple pages bound together along one edge, enclosed between protective covers. This format allows for ease of reading, with readers able to flip through pages sequentially. The book's evolution from scrolls marked a significant advancement in information storage and accessibility, enabling more complex and lengthy works to be compiled and disseminated. Scrolls, on the other hand, are an ancient form of document, consisting of long sheets of papyrus, parchment, or paper that are attached to wooden rods at either end and rolled up. This design was common in many early civilizations, including Egyptian, Greek, and Roman cultures.
Books are a fundamental part of educational systems and libraries, representing a primary means of knowledge transmission and storage in modern societies. Scrolls were used for documents, literary works, and religious texts. However, their format limited the length of the work and made it cumbersome to find specific sections, as one would have to unroll the scroll completely or to a certain point to access information.
The transition from scrolls to books (specifically, the codex format) around the 1st century AD revolutionized how texts were compiled, read, and transported. Books allowed for quicker access to specific sections through pagination, facilitating reference and academic study. This shift significantly impacted educational practices, literary culture, and the dissemination of ideas, contributing to the broader distribution of knowledge and literacy.
The physical durability and compactness of books compared to scrolls have also contributed to their longevity as a medium for text. Books can withstand more wear and tear, and their binding protects the pages within. They are easier to store on shelves and to transport, making them more practical for everyday use in a variety of settings, from academic institutions to personal collections.
Despite the predominance of books, scrolls continue to hold cultural and historical significance. They are often associated with sacred texts and ancient knowledge, maintaining a symbolic presence in religious and scholarly traditions. Scrolls are revered for their historical authenticity and are preserved as artifacts in museums, reflecting the rich history of human writing and record-keeping.
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Comparison Chart
Form
Bound pages, typically rectangular.
Long sheets rolled around sticks.
Material
Paper, sometimes electronic (e-books).
Papyrus, parchment, or paper.
Usage Era
From the 1st century AD to present.
Ancient times until the early Middle Ages.
Accessibility
Easy to navigate with page numbers.
More difficult to search through.
Durability
Generally more durable and easier to store.
Less durable and cumbersome to handle.
Compare with Definitions
Book
Register in a hotel booker
Scroll
An ancient document made from papyrus, parchment, or paper, rolled around a stick.
The archaeologist carefully unrolled the ancient scroll to study its inscriptions.
Book
An object used for reading, education, or entertainment, containing text or illustrations.
He spent the evening reading a book about the stars.
Scroll
A symbol of learning and knowledge in many historical and religious contexts.
Scrolls are often depicted in art as symbols of wisdom and scholarship.
Book
A medium through which stories, knowledge, and information are transmitted across generations.
The history book contained insights into the ancient civilizations of the world.
Scroll
An artifact that represents the historical evolution of written communication.
Museums display scrolls to illustrate the history of writing and books.
Book
A digital or electronic version of written works, accessible on electronic devices.
She downloaded the book onto her tablet for easy reading during her commute.
Scroll
Used for writing before the advent of the bound book, especially in ancient cultures.
Scrolls were the primary form of document storage in the library of Alexandria.
Book
A collection of sheets of paper or other material, bound together and usually covered.
The artist filled her book with sketches and notes from her travels.
Scroll
A method of record-keeping and literature that preceded the modern book format.
Ancient scrolls contained everything from legal codes to epic poems.
Book
A book is a medium for recording information in the form of writing or images, typically composed of many pages (made of papyrus, parchment, vellum, or paper) bound together and protected by a cover. The technical term for this physical arrangement is codex (plural, codices).
Scroll
A scroll (from the Old French escroe or escroue), also known as a roll, is a roll of papyrus, parchment, or paper containing writing.
Book
A written or printed work consisting of pages glued or sewn together along one side and bound in covers
A book of selected poems
Scroll
A roll, as of parchment or papyrus, used especially for writing a document.
Book
A bound set of blank sheets for writing in
An accounts book
Scroll
An ancient book or volume written on such a roll.
Book
A set of tickets, stamps, matches, samples of cloth, etc., bound together
A pattern book
Scroll
A list or schedule of names.
Book
Reserve (accommodation, a place, etc.); buy (a ticket) in advance
Book early to avoid disappointment
I have booked a table at the Swan
Scroll
An ornament or ornamental design that resembles a partially rolled scroll of paper, as the volute in Ionic and Corinthian capitals.
Book
Make an official note of the personal details of (a person who has broken a law or rule)
The cop booked me and took me down to the station
Scroll
(Music) The curved head on an instrument of the violin family.
Book
Leave suddenly
They just ate your pizza and drank your soda and booked
Scroll
(Heraldry) A ribbon inscribed with a motto.
Book
A set of written, printed, or blank pages fastened along one side and encased between protective covers.
Scroll
To inscribe on a scroll.
Book
An e-book or other electronic resource structured like a book.
Scroll
To roll up into a scroll.
Book
A printed or written literary work
Did you ever finish writing that book?.
Scroll
To ornament with a scroll.
Book
A main division of a larger printed or written work
A book of the Old Testament.
Scroll
(Computers) To cause (displayed text or graphics) to move up, down, or across the screen so that a line of text or graphics appears at one edge of the screen for each line that moves off the opposite edge
Scroll a document.
Scroll a page of text.
Book
A volume in which financial or business transactions are recorded.
Scroll
To cause displayed text or graphics to move up, down, or across the screen
Scrolled down to the end of the document.
Book
Books Financial or business records considered as a group
Checked the expenditures on the books.
Scroll
To appear onscreen and roll by
"The information scrolls so fast it's unreadable" (Creative Computing).
Book
A libretto.
Scroll
A roll of paper or parchment; a writing formed into a roll.
Book
The script of a play.
Scroll
(architectural element) An ornament formed of undulations giving off spirals or sprays, usually suggestive of plant form. Roman architectural ornament is largely of some scroll pattern.
Book
The Bible.
Scroll
Spirals or sprays in the shape of an actual plant.
Book
The Koran.
Scroll
A mark or flourish added to a person's signature, intended to represent a seal, and in some States allowed as a substitute for a seal. [U.S.] Alexander Mansfield Burrill.
Book
A set of prescribed standards or rules on which decisions are based
Runs the company by the book.
Scroll
(lutherie) The carved end of a violin, viola, cello or other stringed instrument, most commonly scroll-shaped but occasionally in the form of a human or animal head.
Book
Something regarded as a source of knowledge or understanding.
Scroll
(geometry) A skew surface.
Book
The total amount of experience, knowledge, understanding, and skill that can be used in solving a problem or performing a task
We used every trick in the book to finish the project on schedule.
Scroll
(cooking) A kind of sweet roll baked in a somewhat spiral shape.
I ordered a glass of lemonade and a coffee scroll.
Book
(Informal) Factual information, especially of a private nature
What's the book on him?.
Scroll
(computer graphics) The incremental movement of graphics on a screen, removing one portion to show the next.
Book
A pack of like or similar items bound together
A book of matches.
Scroll
(hydraulics) A spiral waterway placed round a turbine to regulate the flow.
Book
A record of bets placed on a race.
Scroll
(anatomy) A turbinate bone.
Book
(Games) The number of card tricks needed before any tricks can have scoring value, as the first six tricks taken by the declaring side in bridge.
Scroll
To change one's view of data on a computer's display, typically using a scroll bar or a scroll wheel to move in gradual increments.
She scrolled the offending image out of view.
Book
To arrange for or purchase (tickets or lodgings, for example) in advance; reserve.
Scroll
(intransitive) To move in or out of view horizontally or vertically.
The rising credits slowly scrolled off the screen.
Book
To arrange a reservation, as for a hotel room, for (someone)
Book me into the best hotel in town.
Scroll
To flood a chat system with numerous lines of text, causing legitimate messages to scroll out of view before they can be read.
Hey, stop scrolling!
Book
To hire or engage
Booked a band for Saturday night.
Scroll
A roll of paper or parchment; a writing formed into a roll; a schedule; a list.
The heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll.
Here is the scroll of every man's name.
Book
To list or register in a book
Booked the revenue from last month's sales.
Scroll
An ornament formed of undulations giving off spirals or sprays, usually suggestive of plant form. Roman architectural ornament is largely of some scroll pattern.
Book
To list or record appointments or engagements in
A calendar that was booked solid on Tuesday.
Scroll
A mark or flourish added to a person's signature, intended to represent a seal, and in some States allowed as a substitute for a seal.
Book
To record information about (a suspected offender) after arrest in preparation for arraignment, usually including a criminal history search, fingerprinting, and photographing.
Scroll
Same as Skew surface. See under Skew.
Book
(Sports) To record the flagrant fouls of (a player) for possible disciplinary action, as in soccer.
Scroll
A round shape formed by a series of concentric circles
Book
To designate a time for; schedule
Let's book a meeting for next month.
Scroll
A document that can be rolled up (as for storage)
Book
To be hired for or engaged in
The actor has booked his next movie with that director.
Scroll
Move through text or graphics in order to display parts that do not fit on the screen;
Scroll down to see the entire text
Book
To make a reservation
Book early if you want good seats.
Book
(Informal) To move or travel rapidly
We booked along at a nice clip.
Book
Of or relating to knowledge learned from books rather than actual experience
Has book smarts but not street smarts.
Book
Appearing in a company's financial records
Book profits.
Book
A collection of sheets of paper bound together to hinge at one edge, containing printed or written material, pictures, etc.
She opened the book to page 37 and began to read aloud.
He was frustrated because he couldn't find anything about dinosaurs in the book.
Book
A long work fit for publication, typically prose, such as a novel or textbook, and typically published as such a bound collection of sheets, but now sometimes electronically as an e-book.
I have three copies of his first book.
Book
A major division of a long work.
Genesis is the first book of the Bible.
Many readers find the first book of A Tale of Two Cities to be confusing.
Book
(gambling) A record of betting (from the use of a notebook to record what each person has bet).
I'm running a book on who is going to win the race.
Book
(informal) A bookmaker (a person who takes bets on sporting events and similar); bookie; turf accountant.
Book
A convenient collection, in a form resembling a book, of small paper items for individual use.
A book of stamps
A book of raffle tickets
Book
(theatre) The script of a musical or opera.
Book
Records of the accounts of a business.
Book
A book award, a recognition for receiving the highest grade in a class (traditionally an actual book, but recently more likely a letter or certificate acknowledging the achievement).
Book
(whist) Six tricks taken by one side.
Book
(poker slang) Four of a kind.
Book
(sports) A document, held by the referee, of the incidents happened in the game.
Book
A list of all players who have been booked (received a warning) in a game.
Book
(cartomancy) The twenty-sixth Lenormand card.
Book
(figurative) Any source of instruction.
Book
(with "the") The accumulated body of knowledge passed down among black pimps.
Book
A portfolio of one's previous work in the industry.
Book
(transitive) To reserve (something) for future use.
I want to book a hotel room for tomorrow night.
I can book tickets for the concert next week.
Book
(transitive) To write down, to register or record in a book or as in a book.
They booked that message from the hill
Book
(transitive) To add a name to the list of people who are participating in something.
I booked a flight to New York.
Book
To record the name and other details of a suspected offender and the offence for later judicial action.
The police booked him for driving too fast.
Book
(sports) To issue a caution to, usually a yellow card, or a red card if a yellow card has already been issued.
Book
To travel very fast.
He was really booking, until he passed the speed trap.
Book
To record bets as bookmaker.
Book
To receive the highest grade in a class.
The top three students had a bet on which one was going to book their intellectual property class.
Book
To leave.
He was here earlier, but he booked.
Book
A collection of sheets of paper, or similar material, blank, written, or printed, bound together; commonly, many folded and bound sheets containing continuous printing or writing.
Book
A part or subdivision of a treatise or literary work; as, the tenth book of "Paradise Lost."
Book
A volume or collection of sheets in which accounts are kept; a register of debts and credits, receipts and expenditures, etc.; - often used in the plural; as, they got a subpoena to examine our books.
Book
Six tricks taken by one side, in the game of bridge or whist, being the minimum number of tricks that must be taken before any additional tricks are counted as part of the score for that hand; in certain other games, two or more corresponding cards, forming a set.
Book
A written version of a play or other dramatic composition; - used in preparing for a performance.
Book
A set of paper objects (tickets, stamps, matches, checks etc.) bound together by one edge, like a book; as, he bought a book of stamps.
Book
A book or list, actual or hypothetical, containing records of the best performances in some endeavor; a recordbook; - used in the phrase one for the book or one for the books.
Book
The set of facts about an athlete's performance, such as typical performance or playing habits or methods, that are accumulated by potential opponents as an aid in deciding how best to compete against that athlete; as, the book on Ted Williams suggests pitching to him low and outside.
Book
Same as book value.
Book
The list of current buy and sell orders maintained by a stock market specialist.
Book
The purchase orders still outstanding and unfilled on a company's ledger; as, book to bill ratio.
Book
To enter, write, or register in a book or list.
Let it be booked with the rest of this day's deeds.
Book
To enter the name of (any one) in a book for the purpose of securing a passage, conveyance, or seat; to reserve{2}; also, to make an arrangement for a reservation; as, to be booked for Southampton; to book a seat in a theater; to book a reservation at a restaurant.
Book
To mark out for; to destine or assign for; as, he is booked for the valedictory.
Here I am booked for three days more in Paris.
Book
To make an official record of a charge against (a suspect in a crime); - performed by police.
Book
A written work or composition that has been published (printed on pages bound together);
I am reading a good book on economics
Book
Physical objects consisting of a number of pages bound together;
He used a large book as a doorstop
Book
A record in which commercial accounts are recorded;
They got a subpoena to examine our books
Book
A number of sheets (ticket or stamps etc.) bound together on one edge;
He bought a book of stamps
Book
A compilation of the known facts regarding something or someone;
Al Smith used to say, `Let's look at the record'
His name is in all the recordbooks
Book
A major division of a long written composition;
The book of Isaiah
Book
A written version of a play or other dramatic composition; used in preparing for a performance
Book
A collection of rules or prescribed standards on the basis of which decisions are made;
They run things by the book around here
Book
The sacred writings of Islam revealed by God to the prophet Muhammad during his life at Mecca and Medina
Book
The sacred writings of the Christian religions;
He went to carry the Word to the heathen
Book
Record a charge in a police register;
The policeman booked her when she tried to solicit a man
Book
Arrange for and reserve (something for someone else) in advance;
Reserve me a seat on a flight
The agent booked tickets to the show for the whole family
Please hold a table at Maxim's
Book
Engage for a performance;
Her agent had booked her for several concerts in Tokyo
Common Curiosities
Can scrolls still be found today?
Yes, scrolls are preserved as historical artifacts in museums and are valued in certain religious contexts.
Why did society transition from scrolls to books?
Books are easier to read, reference, and transport, offering significant advantages in accessibility and durability over scrolls.
How did books affect the dissemination of knowledge?
The advent of books made it easier to distribute and access information widely, leading to increases in literacy and the spread of ideas.
Are e-books considered books?
Yes, e-books are digital versions of books, offering the same content in an electronic format for convenience and portability.
What materials were ancient scrolls made from?
Scrolls were typically made from papyrus, parchment, or paper, depending on the time and place.
What is a codex, and how does it relate to books?
A codex is an early form of the modern book, with pages bound together; it represented a major innovation over the scroll.
What role did scrolls play in ancient cultures?
Scrolls were essential for record-keeping, literature, and religious texts in ancient civilizations, serving as the primary medium for written communication.
How has the design of books evolved over time?
Books have evolved in materials, binding techniques, and formats, adapting to technological advances and changing reader preferences.
What are the main differences between a book and a scroll?
Books have bound pages and are more durable and accessible, while scrolls are rolled documents, less durable and cumbersome to navigate.
Why are books more practical than scrolls for modern use?
Books’ ease of navigation, storage, and durability make them more suited to contemporary needs for reading and information storage.
What is the significance of scrolls in religious traditions?
Scrolls, such as the Torah in Judaism, hold profound religious significance and are used in various rituals and teachings.
How do books and scrolls compare in terms of durability?
Books are generally more durable, as they protect the pages within a cover, whereas scrolls are more susceptible to wear from rolling and unrolling.
Do digital technologies threaten the existence of books?
While digital technologies offer new ways to read, physical books continue to be popular for their tactile experience and collectibility.
What kinds of texts were commonly written on scrolls?
Legal documents, religious texts, literary works, and historical records were all commonly written on scrolls.
Can anyone make a scroll today?
Yes, making a scroll can be a creative or educational project, though it’s not the standard format for written works.
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Written by
Fiza RafiqueFiza Rafique is a skilled content writer at AskDifference.com, where she meticulously refines and enhances written pieces. Drawing from her vast editorial expertise, Fiza ensures clarity, accuracy, and precision in every article. Passionate about language, she continually seeks to elevate the quality of content for readers worldwide.
Co-written by
Maham Liaqat
