EVOLUTION OF THE BOOK. A Historic Timeline BY: SARAH DYER COM 9660

Transcription

1 EVOLUTION OF THE BOOK A Historic Timeline BY: SARAH DYER COM 9660

2 ORIGINS OF WRITING (INCL. ALPHABET) Numbers for the purpose of record keeping is thought to have started long before the written language Written language began in 3200 B.C. in Mesopotamia and in Mesoamerican 600 B.C. (see map) The original alphabet was developed by Semitic* people living in or near Egypt (Sinai desert around 1700 B.C.) (see image) Egyptians used specific symbols This style of writing was quickly adopted by neighboring peoples (i.e. Canaanites, Hebrews & Phoenicians) Phoenicians spread to the word to Asia, Arabs, Greeks and Spain Writing was done right to left, left to right and vertically Chinese characters were rather long which caused the use of an enormous amount of space; whereas symbols with greater meaning took up less space Source: and Image: Image:

3 THE INFLUENCE OF ANCIENT EGYPT (3500 B.C. 600 A.D.) Circa 3500 B.C. : Sumerian clay tablets used cuneiform alphabet symbols pressed into clay tablets - dried or fired to set; considered the earliest form of the book 2400 B.C. : Papyrus scrolls grass-like, aquatic plant grown in the Nile delta of Egypt. Egyptians used for paper plant cut into strips, pressed together and dried to form a writing surface Papyrus was used all the way up to the 8 th or 9 th centuries A.D. the first block printing in Egypt wouldn t come until 1250 A.D. Image:

4 A WRITING SYSTEM IS BORN (600S-200S B.C.) 600 B.C. : Writing system developed. Mediterranean cultures favored left- to-right writing and reading 200 B.C. : Wax tablet codex marks the beginning of books being bound at one end used by Greeks & Romans Codex were framed and backed by wood; good for note taking, mobile writing surface Two or more tablets were joined with thongs or cords (like three ring binder) Codex books entered Europe, surprising the scroll around the 5 th century A.D. Image Sources: and

5 CHINA S IMPRINT ON HISTORY (105S-1040S A.D.) 105 A.D. : Cai Lun invented papermaking using bark, hemp, old rags and used fish nets; the improved process spread throughout the world A.D. : Illustrated and handwritten manuscripts developed. Earliest illustrated manuscripts were written on parchment (made of calf, sheep or goat skin) replacing papyrus as main resource Handwritten books were detailed with gold and silver, creating colors and showing design elements Used by Muslim and European cultures up until the invention of movable type 868 A.D. : The first book is printed on paper in China Chinese used a block of wood that had characters carved in reverse Ink was placed on woodblocks to create multiple copies on paper or parchment 1041 A.D. : Chinese invent movable type Chinese characters caused problems because of length, whereas the European language proved successful much later due to its limited alphabet Image: english.cntv.cn Image:

6 MODERN REVOLUTION IMPROVES LITERACY (1400S-1770S A.D.) 1440 A.D. : German inventor Johann Gutenberg developed the printing press key to the spread of the printed word in books 1455 A.D. : The Guttenberg Bible (42-line) completed 1490 A.D. : Printed books widespread in Europe By 1500 A.D. Literacy grows and about 35K books have been printed with about 10M copies in circulation 1501 A.D. : Aldo Manuzio designs a smaller and less expensive book to replace the large and heavier Codex; the precursor to modern paperback books A.D. : Puritans ship modern printing press to the American colonies and print America s first book, The Bay Psalm Book delivered to Cambridge, MA 1774 A.D. : Chlorine is discovered and used to bleach white the pages

7 MODERN TIMES IN BOOKS (1790S-1900S A.D.) 1791 A.D. : American Congress passed the First Amendment to the Constitution allowing for Freedom of the Press 1832 A.D. : Books are wrapped in paper jackets 1860 A.D. : Dime novels are printed on cheap, coarse paper 1875 A.D. : The U.S. has 257 public libraries where citizens can access books freely, cheap reprints are published in series called libraries 1933 A.D. : Nazis begin book burning in Europe 1939 A.D. : Pocket Books enters paperback market 1941 A.D. : Starting the first mass distribution system for books Image:

8 INCEPTION OF TECHNOLOGY (1950S-2000S A.D.) 1958 A.D. : The first ever microchip is invented kicking off the computer revolution and opening doors to technological advancement of the book 1986 A.D. : The American Encyclopedia is put on CD-ROM 1990 A.D. : The Second Edition, Oxford English Dictionary becomes available in book or CD-ROM form 1991 A.D. : The Internet is made available for commercial use HTML code is written and precursor to the creation of the World Wide Web; creation sets the stage for current uses of the book 1995 A.D. : Books are sold online 1998 A.D. : The U.S. alone has 70K book titles in circulation and there are 50K publishers

9 ELECTRONIC BOOK BOOM! (2001 A.D. - PRESENT) A.D. : E-Books (electronic books) are launched Handheld, book-sized electronic units for commercial sale and public consumption E-Books open the door to electronic text and graphics of old and new novels 2003 A.D. : Online retailer Amazon.com scans texts of 120K books for internet users to buy online and increases the demand for electronic versus printed books 2006 A.D. : Japanese-based cell phone novel via text message emerges 2007 A.D. : The Amazon Kindle is developed. First automated reading device and revolutionary platform for displaying e-books or other text for readers 2008 A.D. BookSnap technology developed. A quick scanning process of books making digital PDFs more readily available in electronic format The technology today drives the full completion of all books into electronic format The technology is time consuming and cumbersome, meanwhile more technological advancements may beat the race to transfer all books into e-books Image:

10 APPENDIX THE EVOLUTION OF THE BOOK

11 WORKS CITED TIMELINE SOURCE: