In Greek And Roman Times

scholars and lawyers kept libraries
of their's and other writers works
purely for their own reference.
Because knowledge was privately owned,
and meant for the wealthy
it was not meant for sharing.

As a scholar approached death
so they would burn all the scrolls
that they once held dear
and had once used daily.

The excuse they gave as they set light
to their lifetimes work was that others
might inherit all the mistakes they made.

This is partly why the documents
that is most found from the 2nd century
onward are fragments of The Gospels;
the knowledge these fragments contained
were considered not to have errors in them,
though as was seen later they could vary,
and they were not private; what they said
was what was held in common between believers.

So, as many private libraries were burned,
The Gospels were copied and got disbursed,
and with the burnt scrolls much of the material
that cross-referenced the literature that remained,
including The Gospels and St Paul's letters,
were destroyed by the fear of imperfection.