The Evolution of the Book

The History of the book:

By: Mia Andrews

Circa 3500 B.C.

Sumerian clay tablets and the origin of writing.

Around this time, an ancient people in southern Mesopotamia called the Sumerians used a cuneiform alphabet, which symbols were pressed into clay with a triangular stylus.

http://www.tylenolliverdamages.com/timeline.html

2400 B.C. This is the date of the

earliest surviving papyrus scroll with writing on it.

Papyrus scroll were made out of a grass-like, aquatic plant grown in the Nile delta region of Egypt.

Parts of the plant were cut into thin strips, pressed together and dried to form a writing surface the ancient Egyptians used for paper.

http://www.jessicarpatch.com/2011/04/in-word-wednesday-pick-up-pen-and-do-it.html

600 B.C. Writing systems developed. Around this time, a general

consensus among Mediterranean cultures slowly emerged, favoring left-to-right writing and reading.

Before that, there was left-to-right, right-to-left, top-to-bottom and back-to-front.

The Hebrews and some others kept right-to-left writing.

http://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/Ideographic+Writing

105 A.D. A Chinese eunuch

names Cai Lun is credited with inventing paper making, using bark, hemp, old rags and used fish nets.

The process was improved and spread to the rest of the world.

http://www.cultural-china.com/chinaWH/html/en/Kaleidoscope3bye10.html

400-600 A.D. The earliest illuminated

manuscripts were written on parchment, which by this time was replacing papyrus.

These handwriting books were decorated with gold and silver, striking colors and detailed designs.

Muslim countries also illustrated their manuscripts, but the process became highly developed in Europe.

http://www.whatisall.com/miscellaneous/what-are-illuminated-manuscripts.html

868 A.D. The first book is

printed on paper in China.

The Chinese used a block of wood that had characters carved in reverse relief.

Ink was placed on the woodblock to create multiple copies on paper or parchment.

http://www.mnnorml.org/mnnorml/chinese/early-books

1041 A.D. The Chinese invent

movable type, but it proved unsuccessful because of the numerous characters in the Chinese language.

European movable type, invented much later, was successful due to the limited characters in the languages.

http://www.computersmiths.com/chineseinvention/movtype.htm

1400 A.D. German inventor

Johann Gutenberg completes his work on the first printing press, the key to the spread of the printed word in books.

http://elizabethspenser.edublogs.org/2011/03/07/the-history-of-print-media/

1501 A.D. Aldo Manuzio

designs a smaller and less expensive book to replace the large codex.

This is the precursor to the modern paperback.

http://abeautifulbook.wordpress.com/category/15th-century/italian-printers/

1774 A.D. Chlorine is

discovered and will eventually bleach the paper used in books, the pages of which are moving more toward their modern appearance.

http://salksperiodictable.wikispaces.com/Chlorine

1929 A.D The Charles Boni

Paper books, a mail-order book club in the U.S., offers paper covers, influencing the start of book clubs and furthering paperback novels.

http://norman.hrc.utexas.edu/bookshopdoor/signature.cfm?item=82#1

1991 A.D. The Internet is made

available for commercial use.

Also, HTML code is written, allowing for the creation of the World Wide Web.

The advent of the Internet also contributed to the technological advancement of the book, creating many of it’s modern uses

http://blsciblogs.baruch.cuny.edu/his1005spring2011/author/jw096606/

2007 A.D. The birth of Amazon

Kindle, an automated reading device and a platform for displaying e-books or other text for user to read.

http://www.disruptiveleadership.com/2009/07/26/disruptive-leaders-jeff-bezos-and-the-kindle/