Publishing Timetable

Year
Event Keyword

-3500
Sumerians use cuneiform alphabet, pressed in clay with a triangular SUMERIAN CLAY TABLETS

stylus. Clay tablets were dried and/or fired for longevity. Some

even had clay envelopes,' which were also inscribed. Some people

consider them to be the earliest form of the book.

-2500
Animal skins are used for scrolls in Western Asia. WESTERN ASIAN SCROLLS

-2400
Date of the earliest surviving papyrus scroll with writing. PAPYRUS

-1900
Hittites, from between 1900 and 1200 BC, left appr. 15,000 clay HITTITES

-1800
Book of the Dead, Egypt BOOK OF DEAD

-1500
c. BC 1500, Shang dynasty in paper

China. The traditional date for the invention of

paper is 150 AD by the court eunuch T'sai Lun (Cai Lun

in pinyin spelling). The first emperor of China's

name and title is Chin Shihuangti. I'm not sure where

the Tain in your list comes from. Thhe earliest xylo-

graphs are probably from the late 600s and were discovered

at the Tunhuang finds at the early part of this

century. As for movable type, the Chinese during

11th and 12th centuries favored earthenware type, but

the Koreans were the first to produce a book with

movable metal type (now in the Bibliotheque National).

Mention might also be made of the stone stelae set

up the Han dynasty to record the orthodox versions

of classical texts. Speaking of early "books," in

addition to writing on slips of bamboo, the Chinese

also wrote on silk.



I hope I haven't gone on too much. Let me say again

that I really enjoyed your site and appreciate the

work you've put into it.



Sincerely,



Charles Randles

-1500
The 'Phaistos disc', found on the island of Crete in 1908, was PHAISTOS DISC

produced by pressing relief-carved symbols into the soft clay, then

baking it. Although it contains the germ of the idea of printing, it

appears to be unique.

-950
Leather is made and used for scrolls and writing. LEATHER USED FOR SCROLLS

-800
Moabite stone is created with one of the finest specimens of PHOENECIAN WRITING

Phoenician writing. The letters resemble Greek.

-650
Papyrus. First rolls arrive in Greece from Egypt PAPER

-650
Papyrus. First rolls arrive in Greece from Egypt PAPYRUS

-600
6th C. BC General agreement among Mediterranean cultures on WRITING SYSTEM DEVELOPED

left-to-right writing and reading. Before that, there was L-R, R-L,

top-to-bottom, and boustroph

edonic (back-and-forth). The Hebres kept R-L.

January 17, 2003 Page 1 of 32
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