This timeline attempts a large-scale overview of significant points in the development of global written cultures. Embedded within this timeline are links to several more focused timelines, three authored by students of ENGL3611 (Winter 2022):;xNLx;;xNLx;>> [Expansion of the printing press over time and geographical space: Germany through Europe](https://www.tiki-toki.com/timeline/entry/1793612/Expansion-of-the-printing-press-over-time-and-geographical-space-Germany-through-Europe/) by Willow Matheson, Catherine Taylor, and Hailey Thibodeau;xNLx;>> [Printing in America](https://www.tiki-toki.com/timeline/entry/1813477/Printing-in-America/#vars!date=1638-01-01_04:50:58!) by Blake Allen, Mary Connors, Theresa Daigle, and Emma Higdon;xNLx;>> [Women and literacy in the Renaissance Era](https://www.tiki-toki.com/timeline/entry/1819356/Women-and-literacy-in-the-Renaissance-Era/) by Keila Gallardo Cubas, Meagan Gautreau, Alyssa Marie Goguen, and Sarah Marie King;xNLx;;xNLx;The image to the left is a detail from the cover of a remarkable book, [A Passamaquoddy-Maliseet Dictionary: Peskotomuhkati Wolastoqewi Latuwewakon](https://umaine.edu/umpress/featured-books__trashed/a-passamaquoddy-maliseet-dictionary/), posted here as a reminder that books are always political, they are always important, and they are always grounded in this our shared world.;xNLx;;xNLx;ATTRIBUTIONS & RESOURCES;xNLx;;xNLx;[Passamaquoddy-Maliseet Language Portal](https://pmportal.org/browse-dictionary);xNLx;;xNLx;Image (left): Cover, [A Passamaquoddy-Maliseet Dictionary: Peskotomuhkati Wolastoqewi Latuwewakon](https://umaine.edu/umpress/featured-books__trashed/a-passamaquoddy-maliseet-dictionary/). David A. Francis and Robert M. Leavitt; UofMaine/Goose Lane, 2008.;xNLx;;xNLx;Background images: Writing: Sumerian Cuneiform Tablet, April 2009, © Gerhard Huber, Creative Commons ([Global Geography](https://global-geography.org/af/Geography/Asia/Syria/Pictures/Other_Side/415_Ugarit_Schrifttafeln)).;xNLx;;xNLx;Codex: Mayan MS known as the "Dresden Codex" because of where it is held ([Bibliodyssey](https://bibliodyssey.blogspot.com/2010/02/oldest-book-from-americas.html)). The "Dresden Codex" may be seen [here](https://katalog.slub-dresden.de/id/0-1646762169).;xNLx;;xNLx;Printing Press: Jan Collaert I, "The Invention of Copper Engraving," plate 19 from New Inventions of Modern Times [Nova Reperta], ca. 1600 ([Met Museum](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/659685)).;xNLx;;xNLx;Digital Age: Computer Circuit Board, [Public Domain](https://www.publicdomainpictures.net/en/view-image.php?image=281573&picture=computer-circuit-board).;xNLx;;xNLx;This timeline benefits from a number of sources, including Jeremy Norman's [HistoryofInformation.com](https://www.historyofinformation.com/index.php), the [History of Printing Timeline](https://printinghistory.org/timeline/) from the American History of Printing Association, and the invaluable [Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Main_Page). Images are shared under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) license unless otherwise stated. All errors are my own.;xNLx;;xNLx;Compiled by Miriam Jones, Humanities and Languages, University of New Brunswick Saint John, in Menahkwesk on the unceded land of the Wabanaki Confederacy.
Click below to visit a Timeline of the development of calligraphy in Europe and North America, with a focus on Britain.
Some of the first known electoral posters were written on the walls of buildings in Pompeii.
Invention of the papermaking process credited to Ts'ai Lun [Cai Lun] during the Han Dynasty of China.
Daily gazette in Rome, presented on message boards.
The Rosetta Stone was made: a stela carrying a priestly decree from the reign of Ptolemy V in three languages: Egyptian hieroglyphs, demotic and Greek script.
Processed animal skin believed first to have been used as a writing surface in Pergamon (Anatolian Greece, Asia Minor, now Turkey) ca. 200 BCE.
Dibao -- official news reports -- developed in China sometime in this period.
The oldest known paper book, Pi Yu Jing, composed of six different materials ca. 256 CE.
Codex Vaticanus is one of the oldest copies of the Bible extant. It is written in uncial majuscules on 759 leaves of vellum.
Codex Sinaiticus is a 4th century (after 325 CE) manuscript Bible written in Greek in uncial letters on parchment.
Codex Alexandrinus is a 5th century manuscript Bible written in Greek in uncial letters on parchment.
Codex Ephraemi Rescriptus is a 5th-century Greek MS of the Bible (ca. 450) that was discovered overwritten by a later (12-century) text.
Amate, a beaten paper-like material made from bark, was made in Pre-Columbian Mesoamerica ca. 500 BCE.
Mesoamerica, before 500 BCE, was one of four sites where written language is traditionally held to have independently developed. The other three sites were Mesopotamia (ca. 3400 – 3100 BCE), Egypt (ca. 3250 BCE), and China (1200 BCE), though modern scholars would add Indus script (3500 BC – 1900 BC) to the list.
Woodblock printing process develops under reign of Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty.
Moors invade Spain, introducing papermaking techniques from the east.
Empress Shotoku of Japan commissioned a million printed copies of a Buddhist charm.
Earliest examples of Greek alphabetic script.
The Book of Kells, an illuminated Latin manuscript Gospel, was produced in Ireland and Britain ca. 800.
The Diamond Sutra, a Chinese translation of a Buddhist text, is the earliest printed book that can be dated.
Chinese printers adapt Wood-block printing to mass-produce classical books and other texts
The Junius manuscript is one of the four major codices of Old English literature. The other three are the Exeter Book, the Nowell Codex, and the Vercelli Book.
The Exeter Book is one of the four major codices of Old English literature. The other three are the Junius manuscript, the Nowell Codex, and the Vercelli Book.
The Vercelli Book is one of the four major codices of Old English literature. The other three are the Exeter Book, Junius manuscript, and the Nowell Codex.
The Nowell Codex is one of the four major codices of Old English literature. The other three are the Exeter Book, Junius manuscript, and the Vercelli Book.
Movable clay type is developed in China but is not practical.
Phoenician alphabet
First papermill in Europe at Xàtiva (Spain).
"The Dresden codex is believed to be a copy of an original text that was composed between about 700 to 900 AD, prompting some historians to assert that it's the earliest known book from the Americas. The surviving copy may have been one of a number of pre-Columbian works sent to Europe by Hernán Cortés in 1519" (Bibliodyssey).
Movable metal type printing is invented in Goryeo, Korea.
Watermarks first used in Italian-made paper.
The world's oldest extant book printed with movable metal type, Baekun Hwasang Chorok Buljo Jikji Simche Yojeol (Selected Teachings of Buddhist Sages and Seon Masters), was published in Cheungju, Korea.
Click below to visit a timeline by students of ENGL3611: Book Production (Winter 2022) called "Women and literacy in the Renaissance Era."
Click below to visit a timeline by students of ENGL3611: Book Production (Winter 2022) called "Expansion of the printing press over time and geographical space: Germany through Europe."
1438–44 Adjustable type mold developed by Johannes Gutenberg in Mainz, Germany.
Italian printer who preserved rare texts and revolutionized reading with his portable books.
The first dated European document is a papal indulgence attributed to Gutenberg.
The first book printed in Europe from movable type, the Gutenberg Bible, is published in Mainz, Germany.
in the Mainz Psalter printed by Fust and Schoeffer.
developed in Germany.
Caxton sets up the first English printing press, in London.
Regiomontanus’s Kalendario printed by Erhard Ratdolt in Venice.
Nuremberg Chronicle is one of the first printed books in Europe to successfully integrate illustrations and text.
First mention of a paper mill in England.
Click below to visit a timeline about women calligraphers in Europe, 1500—1800.
Called avvisi (singular, avviso) in Italy and Zeitungen in Germany, handwritten newsletters were common.
French typographer and printer Geoffrey Tory (c.1480-1533) published his classic text on typographic proportions and design, Champfleury: The Art and Science of the Proportion of the Attic or Ancient Roman Letters, According to the Human Body and Face.
In Venice, Paganino and Alessandro Paganini produced the first printed edition of the Qur'an in Arabic.
Juan Pablos (Giovanni Paoli) became the first printer in North America (Mexico City).
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