"Every year at the Booker Prize, there's an odd little ritual in which six 21st century writers come face to face with the art and craft of the book as Chaucer knew it. Before the winner is announced, each writer is presented with a sumptuous, hand-tooled, hardback edition of their novel. Once a reaffirmation of a venerable, but vital, tradition, in years to come this ceremony may seem absurdly quaint. All the signs are that the book as we know it may be going the way of the codex and the illuminated manuscript."

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