The development of the printing press

The first dated example

888

The world's oldest known printed book, The Diamond Sutra, a seven-page scroll printed with wood blocks on paper, is produced in China.

Bi Sheng in China invented movable clay type

1041

A Chinese man named Pi-Sheng develops type characters from hardened clay, creating the first movable type. The fairly soft material hampers the success of this technology.

Selected Teachings of Buddhist Sages and Seon Masters

1377

Type characters cast from metal (bronze) are developed in China, Japan and Korea. The oldest known book printed using metal type dates back to the year 1377. It is a Korean Buddhist document, called Selected Teachings of Buddhist Sages and Seon Masters.

Xylography

1423

Europeans use xylography (art of engraving on wood, block printing) to produce books.
Xylography

The beginning

1436

Gutenberg begins work on his printing press.

Wooden press which used movable metal type

1440

German Johann Gutenberg invents movable type by developing foundry-cast metal characters and a wooden printing press. This method of printing can be credited not only for a revolution in the production of books but also for fostering rapid development in the sciences, arts, and religion through the transmission of texts.

Product

Period: 1444 to 1448

Gutenberg returns to Mainz and sets up a printing shop. He prints the "Poem of the Last Judgment" and the "Calendar for 1448".

The Bible

1450

Gutenberg begins work on a Bible, the first is 40 lines per page.

The 42-Bible

1452

Gutenberg began printing the 42-line Bible in two volumes.

Gutenberg printed his first book

1455

First block-printed Bible, the Biblia Pauperum, published in Germany. He completed work on what is estimated to be 200 copies of the Bible.Then, he was effectively bankrupt. Investor Johann Faust gains control of print business.

First known color printing

1457

First known color printing, a Psalter (a collection of Psalms for devotional use) by Faust.

Reconstruction

1460

Gutenberg reestablished himself in the printing business with the aid of Conrad Humery.

The first illustrated book

1461

Albrecht Pfister printed the first illustrated book Edelstein which featured a number of woodcuts.

The first drypoint engravings

1465

In 1465 the first drypoint engravings are created by the Housebook Master, a south German artist. Drypoint is a technique in which an image is incised into a (copper) plate with a hard-pointed ‘needle’ of sharp metal or a diamond point. In their print shop in Venice John and Wendelin of Speier are probably the first printers to use pure roman type, which no longer looks like the handwritten characters that other printers have been trying to imitate until then.

Johannes Gutenberg died

1468

Johannes Gutenberg died February 3, in Mainz, German.