By a close examination of the physical attributes of a book, it is sometimes possible to establish the history and provenance of a book: palaeographers and codicologists may also study the history of libraries and of book-cataloguing.
By a close examination of the physical attributes of a book, it is sometimes possible to establish the history and provenance of a book, or to match up long-separated elements originally from the same book. Palaeographers and codicologists may also study the history of libraries, manuscript-collecting and of book-cataloguing.