World's First Printed Book

Diamond Sutra

Ever wondered when was the world's first book printed ?
There are a number of contenders for the honor of bearing the title of "first printed book in the world." The answer to this question is actually quite tricky, because it depends on what one means by "printing," and historical evidence strongly suggests that the identity of the first book in print will probably never be known, because it's unlikely that it survived to the present day. There is also a great deal of cultural bias in the answer to this question, as authorities commonly cite Western texts such as the Gutenberg Bible, when in fact the title most likely belongs to a book in Asia. The question of which book in Asia is still up for grabs.

When determining the identity of the first printed book, it's important to define "printing." The simple transfer of words or symbols to paper, clay, fabric, and other materials is thousands of years old, and could be termed a form of printing. Many people define printing, however, as a mass production process using plates, blocks, movable type, or other media, which can be used to transfer ink to a surface over and over again, mechanizing the process. It is also important to note that early printed books were not entirely printed, with most being illuminated and rubricated by hand after the printing process was finished.


If woodblock printing, which requires laboriously hand carving a wood block for every page of the book, is considered a contender, then the Diamond Sutra is the oldest surviving example of a printed book. A copy in the British Library dates to 868 CE. There's a catch, however: other block printed books are probably older, but are undated, making the Diamond Sutra the first printed book with a verifiable date, not the oldest printed book and most certainly not the first.

Some people prefer to use movable type as the distinction when dating the first printed book, arguing that the development of movable type was a huge leap forward in printing technology that revolutionized the ability to mass produce books. With movable type, each letter or character is separate, allowing the printer to set the type in lines or pages, print the material, and then break the type down and reuse it. With a set of movable type, the need to hand carve wooden blocks is eliminated, and it's possible to print much more quickly.

Evidence suggests that ceramic movable type was invented in China by Bi Sheng around 1050 CE. Unfortunately, no surviving printed books from this period have been found. It's fairly clear that if the Chinese invented movable type, however, they were probably using it to print. This means that the oldest printed book is likely a Buddhist religious text from the 11th century, even if researchers don't know which one. Sheng's type did not hold up well, according to contemporaries, and the concept was abandoned, with the Chinese returning to wood block printing.

In Korea, someone took note of the Chinese explorations into movable type, and developed metalloid type at around the same time. Researchers believe that the Koreans were printing books with movable type as early as the 1200s, with the first surviving printed book with metalloid type being the Jikji, which was printed in 1377. That's over 70 years before the Gutenberg Bible, which was printed in 1454.

While the true identity of the first printed book will probably never be known — unless researchers find a well-preserved copy of a text with a conveniently detailed discussion of the date and printing techniques attached — it is interesting to explore the history of printing and the impact which printing had on the world. It is also interesting to observe the history of crediting things invented in the East to developers in the West; in the case of printing, it is entirely possible that Gutenberg came up with the idea of movable type independently, which means that the Chinese and Gutenberg both deserve credit for inventing it. It is also possible that Gutenberg heard about Chinese and Korean experiments with movable type and decided to try it out for himself.

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