Introduction : Pre-Gutenberg Printing
Blockprinting on paper started in China in the 7th c., but no examples survive. The oldest surviving printing was found in 1966 in a stupa in the Buddhist temple Pulguk-sa, Kyongju, Korea. It is a small dharani scroll printed 704-751. Until then the dharani scrolls contained in small wooden pagodas printed in Japan 764-770 were considered the oldest printing in the world. 14 examples (81 volumes) of blockprinting and movable type printing from the period 770 to 1442 are selected here, from a collection of 152 items.
These precious prints represents 680 years of printing history until Gutenberg re-invented movable type printing in Europe around 1450.
All this refers to printing on paper using ink, or without ink on soft paper (blind printing), applying blocks or movable types of wood, stone or metals. It should be noted that about 3000 years earlier, royal inscriptions were printed in blind on clay bricks, using blocks of wood, clay or marble. The bricks were printed in thousands of copies for use in palace or temple buildings in Sumer and Babylonia. If the definition of blind printing also includes soft materials as wet clay or gold in addition to dry or wet (soft) paper, these royal texts will be the world's earliest printing. 5 examples are listed here, as well as an European example.
- ADVANCED MANUSCRIPT SEARCH
- 1. Bible
- 2. History
- 3. Literature
- 4. Palaeography
- 4.1 Early Writing
- 4.2 Greek Book Scripts
- 4.3 Latin Book Scripts
- 4.3.1 Roman Scripts
- 4.3.2 National or Relgional Scripts
- 4.3.3 Carolingian Minuscule
- 4.3.4 Romanesque
- 4.3.5 Gothic
- 4.3.6 Italian & Humanistic
- 4.3.7 East European
- 4.4 Latin Documentary Scripts
- 4.5 Greek & Other
- 4.6 Aramaic, Hebrew & Syriac
- 4.6.1 Proto-Canaanite / Early Phoenician
- 4.6.2 Aramaic
- 4.6.3 Jewish Aramaic
- 4.6.4 Hasmonean Hebrew
- 4.6.5 Herodian Hebrew
- 4.6.6 Hebrew Square
- 4.6.7 Semi-Cursive Hebrew
- 4.6.8 Rabbinic Cursive
- 4.6.9 Samaritan
- 4.6.10 Syriac Estrangela
- 4.6.11 Syriac Sertâ
- 4.6.12 Syriac Rabbinic
- 4.6.13 Christian Palestinian Aramaic / Palestinian Syriac
- 4.6.14 Mandaic
- 4.6.15 Manichaean
- 4.6.16 Angelic Script
- 4.7 Arabic
- 4.8 Native American
- 5. Patristic Literature
- 6. Liturgy
- 7. Music
- MUSIC NOTATION
- 7.1 Sumerian Music
- 7.2 Babylonian Cuneiform
- 7.3 Ancient Greek
- 7.4 Byzatine Notation
- 7.5 Metz (Messine)
- 7.6 North French
- 7.7 Aquitanian Neumes
- 7.8 Palaeo-Frankish (St Amand)
- 7.9 St Gallen Neumes
- 7.10 Toscana Neumes
- 7.11 Bologna Neumes
- 7.12 Beneventan Neumes
- 7.13 Catalan Neumes
- 7.14 Cistercian Neumes
- 7.15 English Neumes
- 7.16 Metz-Gerrman Gothic
- 7.17 Hufnagel / German Gothic
- 7.18 'Tête de Marteau' Notation
- 7.19 Square Notation
- 7.20 Praha Notation
- 7.21 Estergom Notation
- 7.22 Wroclaw Notation
- 7.23 Mensural Notation
- 7.24 Tablature Notation
- 7.25 Old Russian Neumes
- 7.26 Osmanic Letter Notation
- 7.27 Vedic Numeric Hand
- 7.28 Koto Notation
- 7.29 Chinese Gongchi
- 7.30 Graphic Notation
- 7.31 Virtual Notation
- COMPOSERS AT WORK
- 7.32 Renaissance Music
- 7.33 Baroque Music
- 7.34 Classical Period
- 7.35 Romanticism
- 7.36 Modern to 1950
- 7.37 Contemporary
- 8. Law
- 9. Mathematics
- 10. Magical Literature
- 11. Calendars & Almanacs
- 12. Dead Sea Scrolls
- 13. Scribal Activity & Learning
- 14. Papyri & Ostraca
- 15. Bindings & Bookboxes
- 16. Seals
- 17. Apocryphal Literature
- 18. Nordic Countries
- 18.1 Norway
- MS 566/1
- MS 1385
- MS 2151
- MS 2116/2
- MS 2118/1
- MS 2526/3
- MS 2119/1
- MS 2113
- MS 2223/16 (Seals)
- MS 1281 (Music)
- MS 1576 (Palaeography)
- MS 2913 (Calendars)
- MS 2222/3 (Calendars)
- MS 2222/2 (Calendar)
- MS 1570 (Palaeography)
- MS 2128 (History)
- MS 2132 (Smaller Collections)
- MS 4473 (Smaller Collections)
- MS 2114 (Literature)
- MS 2526/1 (Literature)
- MS 2115/1 (Literature)
- MS 2120/4 (Smaller Collections)
- MS 2120/1 (Smaller Collections)
- MS 2526/2 (Smaller Collections)
- MS 2774 (Smaller Collections)
- MS 2138 (Smaller Collection)
- MS 4471 (Smaller Collection)
- MS 5272/1 (Smaller Collections)
- MS 2117/3 (Literature)
- MS 2140 (Smaller Collecitons)
- MS 2306 (Bible)
- MS 2255 (Smaller TBA)
- 18.2 Sweden
- 18.3 Denmark & Greenland
- 18.4 Finland
- 18.5 Iceland
- 18.1 Norway
- 19. Dictionaries & Lexical Texts
- 20. China
- 21. Pre-Gutenberg Printing
- 22. Buddhism
- 23. Religions
- 24. Smaller Collections
- 24.1 Architecture
- 24.2 Books of Hours
- 24.3 Letters
- 24.4 Legends & Proverbs
- 24.5 Children's Literature
- 24.6 Library Catalogues
- 24.7 Maps
- 24.8 Marine Life
- 24.9 Medical Texts
- 24.10 Miracles & Saints
- 24.11 Peerage Genealogies
- 24.12 Roman Military Diplomas
- 24.13 Ships & Seamanship
- 24.14 Slavery
- 24.15 Weights & Measures
- 24.16 Wine & Beer
- 24.17 Women Authors
- 24.18 Miscellaneous