The Origins of Publishing, Part 1

Victor Morrison // Blog Writer

The history of publishing stretches much further back than the invention of the printing press or the creation of the book. The idea of leaving a mark or writing down a written message for others to decipher goes back to 40,000 BCE. The first cave paintings of buffalo and handprints, though not published material exactly the way we think of it today, were the start of it all. The oldest example of these paintings is from El Castillo, Spain. The exact date of their inception is disputed, but most scholars agree they are around 40,000 years old.

Much later, specific structures of writing came into play. In 4000 BCE, Egyptian hieroglyphs were invented. These hieroglyphs were written on papyrus scrolls, which are almost like thick paper rolls. These scrolls were made from the costly papyrus plant found near the Nile River, and the oldest surviving example is from 2400 BCE. In 3300 BCE, cuneiform was written on clay tablets in Mesopotamia. Clay was abundant and survived far longer than papyrus. But preserving written material on clay had disadvantages, such as its weight and fragility, and these made it less portable and popular as a way to preserve language. Despite this, many medical, mathematical, and legal books were preserved in cuneiform. And between 1300 BCE and 1000 BCE, the oldest epic of all time, The Epic of Gilgamesh, is said to have been written on a cuneiform tablet. The story resembles that of Noah and the Flood.

Jumping ahead to 600 BCE as more uniform writing systems cropped up in Mesopotamia, distrust of writing became prevalent. Some believed writing information down made people lose the power to retain things through memory. The Druids’ distrust of writing led them to not write anything down, so we don’t know much about their lore and knowledge today. Not having a record makes it nearly impossible to keep track of history, and when memory fails us in this regard, all is lost. The importance of writing is clear to us now, but back then it was highly debated. In about 300 BCE, the Library of Alexandria opened, and in about 100 BCE, Romans started selling books, proving a gradual acceptance of writing.

In AD 105, Chinese inventor Cai Lun invented paper more along the lines of what we know it as today, and it spread to Korea and Japan in the seventh century. And in 1040, the first moveable type printing was invented in China using wooden blocks and ink, inspiring European inventors four centuries later. Unfortunately, Chinese censorship and patronage prohibited popular reading, and the intense system of ideographic writing made printing the language very difficult. Therefore, printing was not used to make copies for mass consumption until much later.

It is important to note that in AD 868, The Diamond Sutra was written in India but printed in China. It is considered to be the oldest printed book and contains the sayings of Buddha. The Tale of Genji, written by Murasaki Shikibu in 1130 in Japan, is known as the first printed prose book. It is quite long, totaling 54 chapters.

Many of these breakthroughs allowed for Gutenberg’s invention of the first workable movable typewriter in Europe. In 1439 it was created, and in 1456 Gutenberg printed the 42-Line Bible. About 50 out of an estimated 180 original copies remain, which is a pretty exceptional survival rate. Some claim that Gutenberg was not the first to invent the modern printing press in Europe, but these claims have been widely dispelled. Others did print with this technology, but their pieces are dated younger than Gutenberg’s Bible.

But Gutenberg’s breakthrough is not where the progress in printing ceased. Read my next blog post to find out what innovations occurred after the printing press was invented that brought us to publishing as we know it today.