History of books

The study of books as physical objects and cultural media, tracing how their production, circulation, readership, and influence have changed over time.

Manuscript: A document written by hand rather than produced through printing or another mechanical process. Hand-copied texts dominated book production before printing and remained in use afterward.
Cuneiform: A writing system made by pressing wedge-shaped marks into clay, used in ancient Mesopotamia. Clay tablets preserve some of the earliest surviving written records and literary works.
Johannes Gutenberg: A German goldsmith and printer associated with introducing European printing with movable metal type in the fifteenth century. His press helped establish printing as a major European method of book production.
Gutenberg Bible: A Latin Bible printed in Mainz in the 1450s using movable metal type. It is a landmark surviving example of early European printing.
Protestant Reformation: A sixteenth-century movement that challenged Roman Catholic authority and led to new Christian churches. Printed religious texts helped spread reform arguments and vernacular scripture.
Codex: A book format made of leaves joined along one edge, allowing pages to be turned and text accessed directly. Its bound pages replaced the scroll as the principal format for many books.
Library of Ashurbanipal: A seventh-century BCE royal collection of cuneiform tablets assembled at Nineveh by the Assyrian king Ashurbanipal. Its excavated tablets show how an ancient ruler collected, organized, and preserved texts.
Aldus Manutius: A Venetian humanist printer and publisher who founded the Aldine Press in the late fifteenth century. His editions and portable formats shaped Renaissance publishing and reading.
The Ninety-Five Theses: Martin Luther's 1517 propositions criticizing aspects of church practice and inviting academic debate. Printed versions helped turn a local theological dispute into a wider public controversy.
Scientific Revolution: A period of major changes in European natural philosophy and scientific practice from the sixteenth to seventeenth centuries. Printed books enabled findings, diagrams, and methods to circulate among scholars.

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