Publishing Timeline

I found this yesterday and was fascinated - the world's oldest printed book 'The Diamond Sutra' - was published in 808 AD in China.  This was just a 7-page scroll printed with wood blocks and, until the 11th century the Chinese and Koreans continued to experiment producing type with clay, wood, bronze and iron.  It wasn't until 1440 that Johann Gutenberg invented the press and printed his first book, a Latin Bible, in 1455.  

Then, in 1475, William Caxton produced the first book printed in English 'The Recuyell of the Histories of Troye.  Pope Paul IV issued his 'Index of Forbidden Books' in 1559 and in 1639 Stephen Day printed 'Freeman's Oath' - the first book published in the American colonies.
     

The 'Gentleman's Magazine' is considered to be the first modern magazine.  it contained essays, poems and political commentary.  It made its first appearance in 1731. 

Pierre Fournier developed the point system in France during 1764 which was refined by Francois Didot.  This established type measure consistency throughout the world.

In 1771 the Encyclopedia Britannica was published in Scotland.

In 1822 American-born William Church invented the first mechanical typesetting device. 

The 'Illustrated London News' used woodcuts and engravings for the first time in 1842, meaning that illustrated journals became exceedingly popular.  Richard Hoe, in 1851, patented the first rotary press which enabled printing to be both quicker and cheaper - the New York Times debuted costing just a penny.

The Copyright Act came into force in 1891 - this prohibited the reprinting of English books in paperback making them virtually non-existent.  However, in 1936 Allen Lane's Penguin Press re-introduced the paperback with 'Gone With The Wind' by Margaret Mitchell.

1950 saw Charles Schulz introduce the 'Peanuts' comic strip and Rolling Stone, in 1967,  spawned the popularity of special-interest and regional magazines.    

This brings us up to date with desk-top publishing packages being available from 1985 and then the Kindle in 2007 we can now do everything for ourselves - enjoying thousands of books on a small tablet.  Amazing.