Book and printing history

By samantha124
  • 75

    Oldest surviving amate (bark) paper (Mexico, Aztec period)

  • 105

    Traditional date of invention of paper in China by Cai Lun (archaeological investigations suggest 200 years earlier)

  • 220

    Woodblock printing is used for printing on fabric in China by 220

  • 600

    Woodblock printing is used for printing on paper in China by 600

  • 650

    Papermaking reaches Tibet and India by 650

  • 700

    Papermaking reaches the Middle East by 700

  • 868

    Chinese Buddhist Diamond Sutra is printed by woodblock in China, the earliest known printed book with a precise publishing date

  • 1041

    Bi Sheng invents ceramic and wooden moveable type (China)

  • 1085

    Paper arrives in Europe by 1085

  • 1440

    Johannes Gutenberg is said to have perfected and unveiled the secret of printing (Germany)

  • Aloys Senefelder invents lithographic printing (Germany)

  • Friedrich Koenig designs a steam powered press (Germany)

  • Traditional date for the birth year of practical photography

  • Friedrich Gottlob Keller secures a patent for wood pulp paper manufacturing (Germany)

  • Richard March Hoe invents the rotary printing press (USA)

  • William Fox Talbot patents the idea of halftone printing (England)

  • Robert Barclay invents the offset lithographic press for printing on tin (England)

  • Ottmar Mergenthaler invents the Linotype machine (Germany/USA)

  • Karel Klíč develops first rotogravure press (Austria-Hungary/England)

  • Bibby, Baron and Sons patent the first flexographic press (England)

  • David Gestetner patents his Automatic Cyclostyle stencil duplicator (Hungary/England)

  • William Kurtz patents the first colour separation technique that uses cyan, magenta, and yellow (Germany/USA)

  • Ira Washington Rubel develops the offset lithographic press for printing on paper (USA)

  • The Eagle Printing Ink Company develops four-colour wet process inks (USA)

  • Chester Carlson patents Electrophotography/Xerography (photocopier technology)

  • Photon Corporation develops the Lumitype (Massachussets)

  • Photon Corporation develops the Lumitype phototypesetting machine (Massachussets)

  • The first commercial photocopier, the Xerox 914, is released

  • Gary Starkweather at Xerox invents the laser printer using Xerography technology