| Year | Description |
|---|---|
| 3500 BCE | Mesopotamia, Sumerian clay tablets |
| 1985–1795 BCE | The oldest surviving Papyrus scroll is from 1985–1795 BC |
| 600 BCE | The evolution of writing systems |
| 500-200 BCE | Parchment papers made of calves, sheep, or goats’ skin |
| 105 CE | The paper we are familiar with was invented in China, made of bark, mulberries, and hemp. Books were handwritten and kept in libraries |
| 868 CE | The Diamond Sutra, found in 1900 by a monk in Dunhuang, China, is the oldest printed book in history. |
| 970-1051 CE | In the Song Dynasty movable type (a method of printing using separate characters or letters) was invented in China by Bi Sheng. the movable type did not become widely used at this time because the Chinese alphabet is pictographic rather than alphabetic. |
| 1297 CE | Wang Chen’s Nung shu is considered the world’s first mass-produced book. Wang Chen’s method of wood blocks moveable type was used by many printers in China |
| 1439 CE | The first-ever working movable type printing press (with metal printing blocks) was developed in Germany by Gutenberg (150 years after Wang Chen’s). This led to the printing of the Bible. |
| 1475 CE | First book printed in English The Recuyell of the Historyes of Troye |
| 1500 CE | No more strenuous, handwritten texts! The invention of the printing press led to books, newspapers, etc. |
| 1534 CE | The first book publishers were Cambridge University Press in England, Schwabe Verlag in Switzerland, and House of Elzevir in the Netherlands. This is the beginning of Publishing as we know it today. |
| 1400s -1600s | The invention of the printing press quickened the spread of knowledge during the Renaissance. |
| 1744 | White pages in books, used chlorine to bleach paper |
| 1685-1815 | Publishing during the Enlightenment Period |
| 1832 | Book sleeves created to protect books |
| 1800s | Copyright laws enacted to prevent pirated content, laws vary from country to country, but the main goal is to protect an author’s work |
| 1891 | Copyright Act of 1891 prohibits reprinting of English novels in Paperback |
