The Story of Communication:
Writing—Timeline
(Early dates are approximate)
BCE
45,000: In what is now Hungary, a Neanderthal carves on a
woolly mammoth tooth.
10,000: Notches in bones in the Near East presumed to be a
lunar calendar.
8000: In Sumer, clay tokens symbolize goods like sheep, jars
of oil.
3700: In Sumer, tokens representing goods are placed in clay
ball envelopes.
3500: In Sumer and Elam, the start of pictographic writing.
3000: Sumerians write wedge-shaped cuneiform numerals and
ideographic symbols.
3000: Egypt develops hieroglyphic writing.
3000: In Sumer, the first known written legend, Gilgamesh,
a Noah’s ark tale.
2600: In Egypt, scribes employ hieratic writing, a condensed,
cursive hieroglyphic.
2400: In India, engraved seals identify the writer.
2300: Mesopotamian Semites use cuneiform and base-10 numbering.
2000: Enheduanna, a woman in Mesopotamia, writes the first
signed text, a hymn.
1700: First known alphabetic symbols, a few written by Semites
in Canaan.
1500: The Book of the Dead guides wealthy Egyptians into the
afterlife.
1400: Oldest record of writing in China, on bones and tortoise
shells.
1300: The oldest existing alphabetic writing, 30 Ugaritic
cuneiform symbols on tablets.
1250: Moses brings the tablets bearing the Ten Commandments.
1200: The Phoenician alphabet, 22 letters, all consonants.
950: The oldest books of the Bible are written.
900: Phonetic alphabet spreads across the Mediterranean.
800: The Iliad and the Odyssey, centuries
after the Trojan War, ascribed to Homer.
800: Greeks improve Phœnician alphabet by adding vowels;
capital letters only.
750: Egyptian demotic writing, a cursive derived from hieratic,
hieroglyphs.
650: Olmecs, a pre-Mayan people, invent first writing system
in Americas.
640: A king of Ninevah collects a library, 22,000 clay tablets.
600: Mediterranean cultures agree on left-to-right writing.
600: First appearance of Latin.
575: In Babylonian exile, Jewish scholars begin to compile
the books of the Bible.
530: In Athens, a public library.
480: Aesop, possibly a freed slave, writes his Fables.
469: Birth of Socrates, inventor of the art of philosophical
dialogue.
400: The golden age of Greek culture produces unmatched writings.
400: First illustrated manuscripts.
347: Death of Plato, who leaves an unparalleled mark on Western
thought.
322: Death of Aristotle, the great collector of human knowledge.
295: Founding of Alexandrian Library. Euclid teaches there.
240: Latin literature starts to emerge.
213: China’s Ch’in emperor, Shihuang, orders destruction
of all books.
200: Greeks, Romans use wax-on-wood tablets for note taking.
196: Rosetta Stone is cut: same text in hieroglyphic, demotic,
and Greek.
100: Oldest surviving fragment of Bible: 10 commandments
in Hebrew.
47: Alexandrian Library survives fire set by Julius Caesar’s troops; many
books lost.
CE
39: In Rome, the first public library, at the Libertas Temple.
65: Mark writes the first Gospel.
105: Paper is invented in China
160: Galen’s medical treatises will influence but limit medicine for 1,300
years.
191: Fire destroys Rome’s Palatine library.
200: Monks start to use uncial script based on Greek alphabet.
272: Most of Alexandrian Library destroyed during civil war.
300: First evidence of Christian plays.
300: Goths carve runic alphabet on wood and stone; will continue for 1,000 years.
370: Rome is said to have 28 public libraries.
391: Alexandrian Library totally destroyed, reportedly ordered by Archbishop
of Antioch.
393: Church sanctions 27 books of the New Testament; Christian Bible is
complete.
400: Books cut into pages and bound in codex manner are preferred to scrolls.
415: Murder by monks of woman philosopher Hypatia held to be start of Medieval
era.
425: Constantinople University is founded.
450: Beginnings of Old English; it will last 700 years.
496: Pope Gelasius I issues a list of banned books.
520: The start of Western monasticism will keep learning alive in Christian Europe.
595: In India, calculations done with nine numerals and zero, the decimal system.
950: Paper is made in Damascus and Cairo.
950: Folded books appear in China in place of rolls.
1002: Murasaki Shikabu’s Tale of Genji, is the world’s first novel.
1104: Gospel of St. John, written in 687 in uncial, found in St. Cuthbert’s
casket.
1116: Chinese sew pages to make stitched books.
1150: Start of 350 years of Middle English.
1158: The University of Bologna, is founded as a center for the study of law.
1168: Oxford University is founded.
1194: Emir of Seville, Spain, begins burning of books of philosophy and logic.
1200: Some religious texts are written in the English vernacular.
1200: Books are copied and sold for profit by stationers, usually at universities.
1200: French Dominicans begin the Inquisition to snuff out heresy.
1202: Leonardo Fibonacci’s Liber Abaci establishes Arabic numerals
in Europe.
1270: Syrian scholar compiles an encyclopedia.
1285: Eyeglasses are invented in Italy, but correcting only for far-sightedness.
1333: Petrarch’s discovery of classical manuscripts helps bring on the
Renaissance.
1400: From Florence comes the Italic script, a flowing handwriting.
1450: In Germany, Nicholas of Cusa invents concave lenses for near-sightedness.
1497: In Florence, Savonarola burns books, paintings.
1500: In England, the growth of middle class literacy.
1522: Martin Luther publishes German translation of the New Testment.
1525: William Tyndale publishes first translation of the New Testament into
English.
1534: Martin Luther finishes translating Old Testament into German.
1536: New Testament translator William Tyndale is strangled, burned
at the stake.
1558: Child’s speller written in England as spelling consistency gradually
emerges.
1559: Pope Paul IV creates an Index of Prohibited Books; bans books
of Erasmus.
1565: The graphite pencil.
1582: A dictionary of hard English words is published.
1584: Printing introduced to the New World, in Peru.
1588: In England, Timothy Bright invents a shorthand.
1602: Oxford University’s Bodleian opens, England’s first public
library.
1611: The King James edition of the Bible is published.
1615: Miguel de Cervantes completes Don Quixote de la Mancha.
1635: Founding of Boston Latin School, first public high school in America.
1636: Harvard University is founded.
1638: Harvard University establishes a library.
1648: Swedes attack Prague, seize many books.
1657: In Paris, the earliest fountain pen carries its own ink supply.
1704: John Harris’ Lexicon Technicum, the first modern encyclopedia.
1710: England’s copyright act is the basis for protection of intellectual
property.
1730: John Peter Zenger prints first arithmetic text in American colonies.
1731: Ben Franklin establishes first public library in America, a subscription
service.
1779: Thomas Jefferson argues unsuccessfully for tax-funded education.
1780: Steel pen points begin to replace quill feathers.
1783: Noah Webster’s American Spelling Book will be a best-seller.
1784: Benjamin Franklin invents bifocals.
1790: The first U.S. copyright law, protection for 14 years.
1792. Alien and Sedition Acts limit freedom to publish in recently born U.S.
1796: American Cookery, first cookbook published in America.
1800: Library of Congress established.
1806: Carbon paper.
1811: Luddite riots will forever give a name to opponents of advances in technology.
1814: In destroying Washington, D.C., British troops burn down Library of Congress.
1819: In France, freedom of the press.
1822: Bowdler “bowdlerizes” the Old Testament of sexy or “irreligious” passages.
1837: In Massachusetts, Horace Mann starts campaign for public school system.
1850: Number of U.S. public libraries triples in 25 years.
1852: Massachusetts is first state to enact compulsory education law.
1855: The Bondwoman’s Narrative, a novel apparently written by a former
slave.
1856: Blotting paper replaces sand boxes.
1858: Eraser is fitted to the end of a pencil.
1865: Most U.S. states have laws guaranteeing tax-based public education.
1867: Horatio Alger writes first of 130 books for boys.
1875: U.S. has 257 public libraries.
1876: Melvil Dewey develops a library book classification decimal system.
1886: Berne Convention sets up international copyright agreements.
1868: A communication necessity: the stapler.
1884: Lewis Waterman designs a practical fountain pen that doesn’t blot.
1888: Wisconsin telegraphy teacher George Parker designs a new pen.
1890: A.B. Dick markets the mimeograph.
1900: The Oxford English Dictionary letters “A” to “H” are
published.
1900: English handwriting experts establish the art of calligraphy.
1901: Andrew Carnegie begins to build public libraries across the U.S.
1903: Cheap crayons are mass produced in the United States.
1905: A small advance that holds: the fountain pen adds a pocket clip.
1909: Major revision of the U.S. Copyright Act protects authors, composers.
1910: 24% of adult Americans have less than 5 years of schooling.
1910: 13.5% of Americans completed high school; 2.7% have college degrees.
1910: The start of Hallmark Cards.
1914: World War I opponents make use of mass media for propaganda.
1915: Comstock retires after burning “60 train cars” of books, photos,
drawings.
1917: Trench Pen puts ink pellets inside fountain pen to aid writing by soldiers.
1917: Pulitzer Prizes are awarded.
1918: In Russia, Communists send agit-prop trains out with propaganda.
1918: All U.S. states require education through elementary school.
1919: H.L. Mencken, The American Language.
1920: Japan has become the world’s second largest book-publishing nation.
1922: Jmes Joyce’s Ulysses develops stream-of-consciousness writing.
1924: Low tech achievement: notebooks get spiral bindings.
1926: The Book-of-the-Month Club starts: cut-rate books by subscription.
1928: The Oxford English Dictionary, begun in 1858, is finished: 15,487 pages.
1930: The Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook sells the first of 15,000,000 copies.
1930: U.S. customs officials seize Joyce’s Ulysses as obscene.
1934: A bookseller’s catalogue is devoted to detective fiction.
1935: In Germany, Nazis burn books.
1938: Two brothers named Biro invent the ballpoint pen in Argentina.
1940: 5.5% of U.S. adult males, 3.8% of females have college diplomas.
1941: Pocket Books begins first mass distribution system for books.
1943: Armed Services Editions of books published for American troops.
1948: The Bic ballpoint pen.
1952: The Revised Standard Version of the Bible.
1954: Supreme Court rules against separate education for blacks and whites.
1955: From Esterbrook in England, the felt-tip pen.
1956: Liquid Paper is created on the kitchen table of a Dallas secretary, Bette
Graham.
1957: Sputnik launch sets off alarm about U.S. math and science education.
1957: Supreme Court’s Roth decision sets community standards for obscenity.
1957: First book to be entirely phototypeset is offset printed.
1958: Federal funds voted to improve science, math teaching.
1960: Parker 45 fountain pen takes refill cartridges.
1970: 55% of American adults complete high school; slightly more females.
1976: U.S. Copyright Act extends protection to 50 years.
1976: U.S. Copyright Act revison considers photocopying, fair use, interlibrary
loans.
1980: From 3M, Post-it notes.
1980: Of every ten books sold in the U.S., seven are paperbacks.
1985: In Soviet Union, mass communication opens up under “glasnost” policy.
1986: Reference book, Academic American Encyclopedia, produced as CD-ROM.
1988: Salman Rushdie’s novel, The Satanic Verses, enrages Muslims.
1989: Ayatollah Khomenei orders death for Salman Rushdie, who is not in Iran.
1990: The second edition of the Oxford English Dictionary, book form or CD-ROM.
1994: Chain bookstores outsell independents in the U.S. for the first time.
1997: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, the first of the J.K. Rowling
series.
1998: In U.S. alone, 70,000 book titles this year, 50.000 publishers.
1998: “Sonny Bono Act” extends copyright to lifetime plus 70 years.
1999: Americans are buying average of 8 books a year, 3 times pre-WWII.
2000: School libraries in several states challenged over “satanic” content
in Harry Potter books.
2000: One in four American adults hold college degrees.
2000: People are reading e-books on book-size electronic units.
2002: U.S. Supreme Court says 1996 Child Pornography Act is unconstitutional.
2003: One-third of books bought in U.S. is a romance novel.
2003: Amazon.com scans texts of 120,000 books for Internet users.
2003: Supreme Court mandates porn filters in federally funded public libraries.
2004: U.S. public library attendance up 17% in six years.
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