Books are an integral part of our world today. They are everywhere. Every shopping mall has a bookstore; every street downtown has a corner store where books are sold. There are libraries within 10 miles of every town. We can read books in our homes. We can read books online. Now we can read books on small lit devices we hold in our laps. However, people were not always so fortunate. Communication and the written word used to be a lot more difficult. Pens and papers did not exist. Writing did not exist. There was no way to pass information long distances or to the next generation through writing.

50,000 BC

Humans have a need to communicate with one another and to leave their mark upon the world in which they live. They do this with words, but there was a time when spoken words were all humans could rely on. They would not have taken for granted the books we have today. The first signs of written communication were ambiguous cave paintings. Humans used drawings and carvings in the walls of caves to indicate meaning and to tell stories or to explain something to someone else that may come after. Some drawings, though, had multiple meanings such as the foot, which meant both “go” and “come.” This could cause some confusion, especially to us today, though we are fortunate that their efforts remain today for us to study.

The first potable writings were books written in the Middle East on baked tablets. These tablets were formed by carvings and writings pressed into the clay. They would then be baked to harden and preserve them. Some of these tablets tell stories, such as the story of the hero Gilgamesh, as told in the “Epic of Gilgamesh.” This is a very significant find from Mesopotamia. Tablets, however, were easily broken, so a more practical medium on which to write was needed. Papyrus was that material, made from Nile reeds, and the Egyptians began to write on it and create books around 3,500 BC. Papyrus provided the most potable form of communication to date. Ancient Egyptians also organized a system of hieroglyphics to communicate. It utilized symbols and pictures to mean certain things. Thoth became the God of Scribes because writing was so important to the Ancient Egyptians.
 
Parchment was developed by necessity when papyrus became scarce in the second century B.C. Made from goat or sheepskins, it was created by Eumenes II in Asia Minor. The skins had to be treated first with lime and rubbed with pumice after being treated with hot water. The parchment was stretched to thin it out to the desired consistency. Due to the fact that their religion forbade it, India, South East Asia, and the Far East would have refrained from using parchment.

• Petroglyphs Pictographs Cave Paintings Geoglyphs - Crystalinks: An article depicting petroglyphs and pictographs with explanations of how they were created and what researchers believe they mean.
• Hieroglyphics ancient Egyptian writing and alphabet translator: A history of Egyptian hieroglyphics, where they were discovered, and a translation of what letter or number each of the symbols represent.
• PARCHMENT: Traces the history of parchment from the earliest times when they stretched animal skins for the material to more contemporary material.

1,000 BC

Alphabets began to develop in many different cultures around 1,000 B.C. The Greeks, the Phoenicians, the Romans, and the Etruscans, all living along the Eastern Shore of the Mediterranean, formed their own letters and words. This enabled stories, that were once passed down generation to generation by mouth, to finally be written down. One of the first writers to do this was Homer, a Greek, whose tales The Odyssey and The Iliad still inspire writers today. The invention of paper made book writing an easier task, but the Chinese did not share its development for hundreds of years after Tsia Lun created it in AD 105. Finally, through the trade routes from China through Samarkaand, and the disloyalty of Chinese prisoners, it was made available to others throughout the nations.

• Greek Alphabet and Evolution of Alphabets: Short article on the Greek alphabet and a representation of what each letter of the alphabet stands for.
• Homer: Biography of Homer and his telling of The Iliad and The Odyssey in print.
• The Invention of Paper: Explains the beginning of paper, and how it was first made and developed, and how it spread throughout the Eastern nations.

AD 600

Book writing became very important to religions around 600 B.C. The Koran was believed to be the word of God according to the Islamic religion. It was the exact words of God to Muhammad as he walked on the road to Medina, and the Koran was memorized and passed down from generation to generation by a sect of men called the Huffaz. It was around A.D. 633 that many of these men began to be killed in battle; thus, the Muslims began to write down the Koran to communicate with the next generation the writings of Muhammad. This Arabic script grew and spread to three continents.

The wood block was another type of book that was used, first in China, the earliest noted in the 9^th century. The oldest example of this is the Wang Chieh book, and it has been said it is the oldest complete book to date. It was discovered in 1900 near Turkestan in the “Caves of a Thousand Buddhas.” It is a translation of the Diamond Sutra, which was originally written in Sanskrit. A.D. 770 saw the creation and distribution of Dharani Scrolls. The dharani is said to be magical, a Buddhist incantation. The Empress Shotoku of Japan ordered that one million dharani be printed and put in mini pagodas. They were specially designed pagodas, and they were distributed all through Japan over the course of six years. Europe discovered woodcuts in the late 14^th century, and they were cheap to use for reproducing text. Johann Gutenberg, a goldsmith, discovered in 1455 a moveable type of printing press, making the letters separate and more usable. This process was used to reproduce the Bible, hence the name “the Gutenberg Bible” when referring to a particular brand of Bible.

• Chinese Wood Block Prints: Traces the history of Chinese wood block prints back to the earliest book known, the Diamond Sutra and taking the reader through the years of wood block art and printing.

• Idea Finder: The first book that was produced on a mass scale was the Bible, and the man to do it was Johann Gutenberg with a new, moveable printing press. This article describes this process as well as the first printed Gutenberg Bible.

AD 1450

Albrecht Pfister bought the first moveable printing press from Gutenberg, and began printing his own books. His books, however, were the first to add illustrations to the text. This addition made books much more explicable to many people. He was also the first to print in the vernacular, and so people were able to read in their language.

Illustrations in books in this period were extravagant in beautiful, done by artists such as Albrecht Durer. Durer is known for his engravings of “The Great Passion,” and “The Life of the Virgin”, from which many of his illustrations were crafted. Many people of that time were unable to read, and the illustrations aided them in understanding the religious stories and mythology that were printed within the pages of the book.

William Caxton is known as “the father of English Printing.” He was born in Kent and produced the first printed English book. It was a printed version of his translation of the History of Troy. After the production of this book, he set up a printing press close to the Westminster Abbey. He printed many famous works there such as The Canterbury Tales, by Chaucer, and Le Morte D’Arthur by Thomas Malory. The second gave readers a story about a king named Arthur and his many knights of the round table, a story still familiar and retold in many versions today.

• Book illustrations Part 1: The Printed Book: History of illustrations used in books, the first illustrator being Albrecht Pfister, in 1461.
• William Caxton: A biography of William Caxton, known as the first English printer.

AD 1500

Religious leaders saw the printing press and development of books as a wonderful development to bring the “Word of God” to people of all nations, each in their own language. Then, priests need not be present in each and every situation in order to translate and interpret the Word. However, this met with some resistance in the Church, especially when William Tyndale printed his first version of the Bible in English. It was, in fact, denounced by the Church, even by the English bishops. A debate, in print, then ensued. Sir Thomas More, author of Utopia wrote his second book after Tyndale printed his English Bible. It was titled Dialogue and was against Tyndale’s work. Tyndale, though, responded alike in his book An Answere unto Sir Thomas Mores Dialoge. It is unknown how long this banter may have continued, for More was executed in 1535, a year after the printed sparring began. Tyndale was arrested for heresy the following year and executed by strangulation and burning at the stake. Political correctness was necessary for an author in the 16^th century if he wanted to keep his life.

However, in 1604, King James I, decided to produce an English Bible that would be accepted by all members of the undecided and argumentative church. It took 47 scholars to work on the Bible to translate, and in 1611, the King James Version of the Bile was printed with some of the most poetic language known to date.
There were some notable exceptions to printers in the 16^th century. John Rastell did not print political or religious works, but plays. He published his own plays in 1525 including Calisto and Melebea and Gentleness and Nobility.

• William Tyndale: This is a brief study of Tyndale and his belief that the Bible should be available to everyone, and, therefore, his fervent work on translations of the Bible.
• Media History - King James Bible: This article explains why the first official English version of the Bible is referred to as the King James Bible and offers some background material on the subject.
• Geography and the More Circle: A study on John Rastell and his circle, and the work he did on printing and playwriting.

1540

Though drama evolved from religious expression, in the 16^th century, the common people began using it to express other things in a more secularized manner, much to the dismay of the Puritans. In 1592 a new dramatist emerged, and Robert Greene wrote that he was uneducated, yet he seemed to be moving in on the university-educated men. That man was William Shakespeare, and his plays were appealing to the common people all over England. Many of Shakespeare’s plays were not even published and performed until after his death. In Spain, a playwright named Miguel de Cervantes, wrote a romance, Don Quixote, and it became a masterpiece that influenced many playwrights after him, such as English playwright John Fletcher.

Tracts were being written by men and women, often concerning politics and religion, and the Civil War was fought on the battlefield. Many were punished for the things they wrote. William Prynne had his ears cut off, was fined twice, and was branded on his cheeks. John Milton wrote Paradise Lost just after the Civil War, and he is best known for this work. John Bunyan, another prisoner during the war, published Pilgrim’s Progress between 1678 and 1684.

• Shakespeare Timeline: A timeline of the life of William Shakespeare from his birth in 1564 until his death in 1616.
• Don Quixote: The complete text of Don Quixote by Miquel de Cervantes.
• Antebellum and Civil War America: A discussion of literature during the Civil War era in America.

1700

There were very few books in the English language before the 18^th century, and no novels at all until Daniel Defoe wrote Robinson Crusoe in 1719. This first publication was a success. Soon a second book by Samuel Richardson was released, the novel Pamela, though many found this particular story hypocritical in its dose of morality. A parody called Shamemla was the next to be released, and it was done so anonymously. However, Henry Fielding, who used irony brilliantly, was thought to have written it. The public enjoyed the novel Tom Jones when it was released in 1749, and it enjoyed lasting success, even to this day.

By the 17^th and 18^th century, there were some authors who began to take note of many inconsistencies contained in the English language. Among those authors were Daniel Defoe, Jonathan Swift, John Dryden, and Samuel Johnson; the latter of those who created the first ever dictionary in the English language. It took seven years to complete, but he published, in 1755, A Dictionary of the English Language. Its goal, first and foremost, was to make the spelling of English words universal, as the English language seemed to change rapidly.

The birth of the novel women writers also began to emerge. Evelina was published in 1778 by Fanny Burney. Jane Austen was a prolific and accepted author, although still not as received as her contemporary, Walter Scott. Scott, with the publication of Waverly in 1814 created the first bestseller. Many authors set out to imitate his work.

• Robinson Crusoe: A summary of the book Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe, one of the first adventure novels ever written.
• Samuel Johnson biography: A biography on Samuel Johnson, the author of the first dictionary in the English language.
• Women Authors of the 17th and 18th Century: A brief discussion on various notable women authors of the 17^th and 18^th century, including Aphra Behn, Fanny Burney, Elizabeth Carter, Mary Masters, Sarah Pennington, Mary Wollstonecraft, and others.

1800

In 1803 the first iron printing press came into use, invented by Earl Stanhope. This differed little from a wooden press; however, it worked twice as fast. Iron presses came next, the most significant being G.W. Cope’s press named the Albion press. This particular press became the standard for decades by British book publishers. Other developments involved using a steam engine to run a printing press in 1810, by Fredich Konig in 1810.

Interestingly enough, the first publication of the The Times published using a steam press was done under cover in 1814. The publishers knew that it would mean a loss of jobs to some of the workers. Therefore, printing was done at a separate site so as not to alert the workers that a new process was being developed. One man in particular tried to bring back earlier techniques, trying to rebel against the coming Industrial Revolution. This was William Morris. Inspired by 15^th century printers from Venice, he created the Kelmscott Press and named it “The Golden Type.” Many people embraced Morris’s idea and set up their own private presses.

• Printing Yesterday and Today: This article gives the reader illustrations and reading on how the printing process has changed throughout the years.
• Morris and the Kelmscott Press: A discussion on William Morris on his creation of the Kelmscott Press. 

1850

Libraries were established around 1850. Two types of libraries were created to serve the public: free public libraries and circulating libraries. Circulating libraries charged a fee, and Charles Edward Mundie provided 125 branches of these. Libraries could charge a fee per volume; therefore Mundie supported the initiation of the three-volume novel. However, single volume novels were cheaper to publish, so most books remained at one volume. Eventually competition from free libraries forced most circulating libraries to close their doors.

Development of the railroad influenced the publication of books in a whole new way. Firstly, it allowed book publishers a way to transport their books easily and cheaply to the whole United Kingdom market. Secondly, it became very common for people to read while traveling. Therefore, small books began to be sold at railway stations. This influenced the kinds of books that were written and published. William Henry Smith, a train station owner, saw this expanding market and negotiated for an exclusive contract to have books sold in their stations. The London and North Western Railways made a deal with W.H. Smith, and the first bookstall opened at the Euston station. These kinds of contracts grew more common over the next 20 years.

England passed the Elementary Education Act in 1870. Every child was able to go to school. Every child had the opportunity to learn. Literacy soared. In Scotland the Presbyterian Church developed an excellent education system that was adopted by others, so they saw their spike in literacy even before England did. Naturally, this increase in literate people increased the need for books as well.

• Library History: Examples of trade cards once used by the circulating libraries.
• W.H.Smith: A brief biography of William Henry Smith and how his institution of book stalls in his train stations helped to revolutionize the publication industry.
• 1870 Education Act: A statement of the 1870 Education Act.

1900

A new process for arranging type came to fruition between 1870 and 1920. A technique referred to as “machine composing” was developed, and the process of setting type by hand was eliminated and replaced by a machine. Monotype was one of these processes, and it was used most frequently until the 1920’s. Photocomposing became a reality at that time with the first actual printer photocomposer was built. Ideas and patents were noted as early as the 1890’s, but there was no proof that any machine had been built until this time.

Another new development in the United Kingdom during the 1900’s was that of the paperback novel. However, books with paper covers had been produced in the United States and France since the 1850’s. In the United Kingdom, however, they were created by Allen Lane with his publication of Penguin books. He sold them to Woolworths, convincing them to place a large order of ten. Because of the rationing of paper during World War II, Penguin books were a good choice for consumers, because they saved on paper. Therefore, they continued in success when hardcover books saw a decline in publication.

Leaders throughout the ages have known that knowledge is a powerful weapon to man. And many leaders have sought to destroy books, being aware that through books, people become more informed of the world around them. They developed new ideas, sometimes contrary to the government’s political agenda. Paul Joseph Goebbals, Nazi Propaganda Minister in 1933, ordered that books by certain “degenerate” authors be burned. The list of such authors included Thomas Mann, Emile Zola, H.G. Wells, Sigmund Freud, Ernest Hemmingway, Marcel Proust, and Karl Marx. Such authors could broaden the thoughts of the people and inspire them to revolt. Chinese Chairman Mao was known to distribute his Little Red Book through China so that others would learn his thoughts and ideas. This former librarian chairman with his Little Red Book is a common image from the Cultural Revolution.

• Penguin Books: The Penguin Company book site as it is today, founded by Allen Lane in the 1900’s.
• History Place: A photograph of a book burning in Nazi Germany along with some commentary.
• Mao's Little Red Book: Some quotes from Mao Tse Tung’s Little Red Book.
  
  

Today and Into the Future

Today it’s any wonder that anyone reads traditional books at all. There is a world of communication around us of interactive books, talking books, books written by computers, Internet books, film, radio, and television. There is much competition for the consumer’s attention. However, sales of books are on the rise. Perhaps the Internet and television only spark the interest enough to get the consumer to buy a book. Readers still enjoy the feeling of a book between their hands and being drawn into another world by a writer who has envisioned that world. They enjoy reading about worlds that have passed or worlds that have yet to be. So, no matter how attractive all other mediums of communication have come to be, books have withstood the test of time.

• The Online Books Page: Book Listings: An online book listing where a reader can browse by subject, author, title, or new listings to find online books to download and read.
• Historical Periods in Television Technology: A history of television divided into time periods.