Printing was first developed in ancient China using a block of wood on which characters were carved in reverse relief. This woodblock was then inked to produce multiple copies on sheets of paper or parchment. The technique was eventually applied to books—collections of pages connected as a scroll or bound together along one edge within a cover. Movable type was also invented in China, but it only proved successful in Europe in the 15th century because of the limited character set of Indo-European languages.
No source that I know of identifies the earliest known printed books in various languages. This list contains a number of educated guesses as well as omissions, so if any readers know of earlier imprints or languages that I’ve missed, please leave a comment.
This post will continue next week with the earliest books in other languages, published from 1501 to 1879.
Chinese. Jin gang ban ruo bo luo mi jing [Diamond Sutra scroll]. This is a copy of the Sanskrit Vajracchedika-prajnaparamitasutra, translated into Chinese by Kumarajiva, printed by Wang Jie in May 868, and discovered in 1907 by Sir M. Aurel Stein at the Dunhuang Caves. Although woodblock printing had already been in use in China for more than 150 years, this is the earliest printed book to bear an actual date. The document consists of seven strips of yellow-stained paper pasted together to form a scroll more than five meters long. Owned by the British Library, the scroll can be viewed online. Movable type made of baked clay and glue was invented by the alchemist Bi Sheng in 1041, but never caught on because of the multiplicity of Chinese ideograms.
Japanese. Busseltsu kokkuji jinshu ogyo is the oldest surviving specimen of a Japanese woodblock book containing a publication date. It is owned by the Ishiyamadera Temple, and has a notation of the year 1052 in red ink.
Although they are not books, a unique set of eight Hyakumantô darani (Million Pagoda Charms), printed between 718 and 764 A.D. on the orders of Empress Shôtoku (718–770), constitute the earliest printed documents with authenticated dates to have survived to the present day anywhere in the world. They are owned by the British Museum.
Korean. Baegun hwasang chorok buljo jikji simche yojeol [Jikji] (Cheongju, Korea: Heungdeoksa Temple, July 1377). A collection of Zen Buddhist texts compiled by a Korean priest named Baegun, the second volume of this book is preserved at the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris. This is the oldest extant example of movable metal type printing.
Metal type was used in Korea as early as 1234; in 1403 King Htai Tjong ordered the first set of 100,000 pieces of type to be cast in bronze. Early examples of Chinese woodblock printing have been found in Korea, most notably the Mugujonggwang taedaranigyong [Dharani Sutra] scroll, perhaps the earliest extant printed document in the world. Discovered in 1966 in the Sokkatap Pagoda at Pulguksa, it presumably was put into Chinese characters by a monk named Mit’asan around the year 704.
Latin. Biblia Latina [42-line Gutenberg Bible] (Mainz, Germany: Johann Gutenberg, 1454). An estimated 180 copies, 140 on paper and 40 on vellum, of the first printed Bible were manufactured in Mainz. Today, 49 complete and incomplete Gutenberg Bibles are known to exist worldwide, of which only 12 are printed on vellum. The four complete vellum copies are located in the State and University Library of Lower Saxony in Göttingen, the British Library, the Bibliothèque Nationale, and the Library of Congress.
German. A pamphlet/calendar: Eyn Manung der Christenheit widder die Durken (Mainz, Germany: Johann Gutenberg, 1454). The first German bible was Biblia (Strasbourg, France: Johann Mentelin, 1466?).
French. Raoul Lefèvre, Recueil des histories de Troyes (Köln, Germany, 1466).
Czech. Guido delle Colonne, Kronika Trojánská (Plzen, Czech Republic, 1468).
Italian. Francesco Petrarca, Canzonieri (Venice, Italy: Wendelin of Speier, 1470). The first Italian Bible was published by Wendelin of Speier in 1471.
Hebrew. Rashi, [Commentary on the Midrash] (Rome, Italy, 1470).
English. Raoul Lefèvre, The Recuyell of the Historyes of Troye, trans. William Caxton (Bruges, Belgium: William Caxton, 1474).
Spanish. Les obres o trobes dauall scrites les quals tracten dela sacratissima verge Maria (Valencia, Spain: Lamberto Palmart and Fernando de Córdoba, 1474).
Greek. Constantine Lascaris, Erotemata: Epitome ton okto tou logou meron (Milan, Italy: Dioysius Paravisinus, 1476).
Dutch. Vetus Testamentum (Delft, Netherlands: Jacob Jacobszoen van der Meer and Mauricius Yemantszoen, 1477) was the first Old Testament in Dutch. The first complete Dutch Bible was printed in Antwerp by Jacob van Liesvelt in 1526.
English, first in the U.K. Mubashshir ibn Fatik, Abu al-Wafa’, Dictes and Notable Wyse Sayenges of the Phylosophers (Westminster, Eng.: William Caxton, 1479).
Croatian. Missale Glagoliticum (Kosinj, Croatia, 1483).
Portuguese. Pentateuco (Faro, Portugal: Samuel Porteiro Gacon, 1487).
Serbian. Ochtoechos, modes 1-4 (Cetinje, Montenegro, 1494).
Danish. Den danske rimkrønike (København, Denmark: Godtfred af Ghemen, 1495).
Swedish. Jean Gerson, Aff dyäfwlsens frästilse (Stockholm, Sweden: Johannes Smedh, 1495).
This information can also be found in my Whole Library Handbook 4: Current Data, Professional Advice, and Curiosa about Libraries and Library Services, published by the American Library Association in 2006.
Next week: Part 2