codex

The codex (/koʊd.ɛks/; pl.: codices /koʊdɪˈsiːz/) was the historical ancestor format of the modern book. Technically, the vast majority of modern books use the codex format, of a stack of pages bound at one edge. However, the term codex is now reserved for older manuscript books, which mostly used sheets of vellum, parchment, or papyrus, rather than paper.

By convention, the term is also used for any Aztec codex (although the earlier examples do not actually use the codex format), Maya codices and other pre-Columbian manuscripts which somehow evaded post-Columbian attempts to annihilate all knowledge accumulated by these cultures. Library practices have led to many European manuscripts having "codex" as part of their usual name, as with the Codex Gigas, while most do not.