Until the time when the manuscript traders were replaced by the dealers in printed books, the most important function of the university dealers was not in the sale, but in the hiring out of manuscripts, and the term _stationarius_ came from a very early date to be limited to the functionary who, under the regulations of the university, provided, for hire, the students, and in some cases the instructors, with the material required for their work. In order to facilitate the manifolding and prompt distribution of the texts needed, and in order also to lessen for the students the cost of securing these texts, the practice obtained from the beginning of dividing the manuscripts into portions, to which portions were given the name _peciæ_ or _petiæ_--or in the Italian form, _pezze_. At first, the extent of these divisions must have been more or less arbitrary, but later, the number of pages or sheets to be contained in them was made a matter of specific university regulation. According to the regulation, the _pecia_ was to contain sixteen columns, each with sixty-two lines, and each line with thirty-two letters, and the material was to be written on sheets comprising together a form, _quaterne_. The _pecia_ served as the unit of the calculation for the charge for the rental. The older manuscripts had been written in a much larger _format_ than that found convenient for university work, and the above specified form was now arrived at as, on the whole, best meeting the requirements of the students and the convenience of the scribes. For some years after the formal recognition by the university statutes of the _stationarii_, the number of these was naturally limited, a limitation which had a service for the university authorities in facilitating the supervision considered important, and which was, of course, of business value for the _stationarii_ themselves. A certain amount not only of scholarly knowledge but also of capital must have been requisite on the part of the _stationarii_ in order to bring together for manifolding authentic codices or texts, and also to keep themselves supplied with writing materials, which during the thirteenth century continued to be costly. There is evidence that in certain cases, particularly in Padua, a salary was paid from the university chest to the _stationarii_, which was an admission on the part of the university authorities that the prices prescribed for the rent of the _peciæ_ were not in themselves adequate to secure a living income for the scribes.