In general, margins in books have grown smaller over time. As pages became more standardized, so did the size and shape of margins. As paper began to be produced in bulk, page size and shape were increasingly determined by the size and shape of mould which was most practical for producers. With the invention of the printing press, books began to be manufactured in large numbers. Finally, margins serve an aesthetic function by framing text inside a blank border. The exact effect of margins on legibility has been debated, but some scholars contend that without empty space to offset text, the task of reading could take more than twice as long. In addition, that blank space serves an important role in reading and understanding text. Leaving blank space around text protects the typeblock by giving the reader somewhere to put his or her thumbs while holding the book. This marginal space served several practical purposes. Even when no commentaries were added, most books continued to leave space around the text-block on all sides of each page.

However, this was not the only purpose margins served in the codex. Scholarly commentaries included in margins next to their source text are known as scholia. Extra text and images included in the margins of codices are called marginalia. With the advent of the codex, margins (having been largely stripped of their original function) became extra space which could be used to incorporate commentaries next to the original text. Before the codex, commentaries about a text were usually recorded on separate scrolls. Now that each page was separated physically from all the rest, margins became less necessary in distinguishing the beginning and end of the text-block. Rather than storing text on one long, continuous piece of papyrus, the codex was constructed of individual pieces of parchment, bound together on one side. The codex ĭuring the first three centuries BC, the scroll gradually began to be replaced by the codex. Thus, in papyrus scrolls margins performed the function of visually signaling to readers when to stop reading and move down to the next line of text. Columns were referred to as pagina (or pages) and were separated by margins, so that scrolls could be unrolled horizontally, uncovering individual sections one by one. Egyptian papyrus scrolls could reach up to 30 metres in length, and contained text organized in columns laid out from left to right along the scroll.

In ancient Egypt, writing was recorded on papyrus scrolls. Margins are an important method of organizing the written word, and have a long history.

Word has no top margin