From Cave Paintings to the Internet A Chronological and Thematic Database on the History of Information and Media Book Trade Outline

Beginnings of the Book Trade in Greece
(Circa 450 BCE)

Possible Libraries in Ancient Greece
(Circa 410 BCE)

Export of Books from Greece to the Euxine Coast
(399 BCE)

The Book Trade in Cicero's Rome
(Circa 70 BCE)

Book Trade and Libraries in the Roman Empire
(Circa 30 BCE)

The Earliest Document of the Christian Book Trade
(Circa 355 CE)

Herald of Christianity and Magus
(Circa 400 CE)

"The Earliest Evidence for Tooling on a Leather Bookbinding"
(Circa 400 CE)

At the Beginning of the Dark Ages Production of New Manuscripts Essentially Ceased
(Circa 400 CE – 600)

The Church Assumes Role of Educator and Civil Service for the Tribal Kingdoms
(Circa 450 CE – 650)

The Church Replaces the Roman State as the Source of Order and Stability
(Circa 450 CE – 650)

St. Benedict Introduces Monastic Life to Europe
(529)

The Earliest Manuscript of the New Testament in Christian Palestinian Aramaic
(Circa 550)

The Ashburnham Pentateuch
(Circa 580 – 620)

During the Middle Ages Book Production is Concentrated in Monasteries
(Circa 610 – 1200)

"The Oldest Western European Codex in Private Hands"
(Circa 775)

The Earliest Surviving Cookbook
(Circa 850)

Over 100 Booksellers and 30 Public Libraries in Baghdad
(891)

The Earliest Recorded Book Auction
(Circa 950)

Over 400,000 Manuscript Volumes at Cordoba
(Circa 961)

The Earliest Universal Bibliography
(988 – 990)

Origins of the Paris Book Trade
(Circa 1170)

Beginnings of an Active Book Trade Outside of Monasteries
(Circa 1200)

Norman Crusaders Sack Constantinople and Burn the Imperial Library
(1204)

The Pecia System
(April 4, 1228)

The Earliest Surviving Statute Regulating the Paris Book Trade
(December 8, 1275)

The Guild of Stationers
(1403)

"The Sale of a Printed Bible"
(March 12, 1455)

Second Printed Edition of the Bible
(1460)

The Earliest Surviving Book List Issued by a Printer
(June 1469 – September 1470)

The Beginning of Printing in Venice
(September 1469)

The First Book Printed in English
(1473 – 1474)

The First Eyewitness Report to Become a Bestseller
(February 15, 1493)

The Nuremberg Chronicle
(July 12 – December 1493)

The Illustration of a Printing Office and Bookshop in a Printed Book
(February 18, 1499)

The First Treatise on Mathematics Published in the Western Hemisphere and the First Textbook on Any Subject Besides Religion Printed Outside of Europe
(1556)

Concentrating the Entire Printing Business in the Members of the Stationers Company
(May 4, 1557)

The First Catalogue of the Frankfurt Book Fair
(1564)

The First Medical Book Printed in the Western Hemisphere with the Earliest Illustrations of Plants Printed in the Western Hemisphere
(1570)

The First "Books in Print"
(1595)

The Earliest Surviving Catalogue of a Book Auction
(July 6, 1599)

The First European-Style World Map in Chinese and the First Chinese Map to Show the Americas
(1602)

The First Complete Set of Modern Logarithms
(1628)

The Earliest Bibliography of Bibliographies
(1664)

Laws of Book Production and the Book Trade
(1675)

The First Bibliography of Rare Books
(1676)

The First Book Auction in England
(October 31, 1676)

The First Attempt to Collect and Organize the Literature of Early Printing
(1688)

The First Book Catalogue Published in America
(1693)

The First Book Auction Conducted in Paris for Which a Catalogue was Printed
(July – December 1706)

The First "Full-Fledged Antiquarian Bookseller's Catalogue"
(1738)

The First Periodical Published in English on Rare Books & Manuscripts
(1738)

The Greatest Private Collector of Manuscripts
(1837 – 1871)

The Railroad also Becomes an Information Distribution Network
(1848)

Constantin von Tischendorf Discovers the Codex Sinaiticus
(1859)

On the Origin of Species by Natural Selection
(November 24, 1859)

Foundation of The Grolier Club
(January 23, 1884)

The ABA
(1900)

Napoleon's Penis, and Other Napoleon Memorabilia
(1916 – 1924)

Foundation of Barnes & Noble
(1917)

Portion of 15th Century Medical Library for Sale in 1929
(1929)

Predictor of the Electronic Book
(1930)

Penguin Books
(1935)

ILAB
(1947)

ABAA
(1949)

11,638 New Books Are Published in the U.K.
(1950)

Probably the Best "Book Store" Film Noir
(1952)

The First American Bookseller to Discount Books
(1975)

The First Operational Online Antiquarian Bookselling Site
(1988)

The First Successful Online Bookseller Service
(1993)

Amazon.com is Founded
(July 1995)

Abebooks.com
(1996)

"You've Got Mail"
(1998)

3,200,000 Books In Print in the U.S.
(2000)

eBook Distributor is Acquired by Barnes & Noble
(June 5, 2000)

The Future of eBooks
(May 3, 2001)

859,000 New Book Titles Published Worldwide in 2003
(2003)

1,200,000 Unique Book Titles are Sold
(2004)

"The Long Tail"
(October 2004)

300,000,000 Printed Copies
(October 5, 2005)

The Espresso "On Demand" Book Machine
(April 2006)

3.1 Billion Books
(Circa December 2006)

Sales of Books in America in 2007
(2007)

976,000 New Book Titles Published in 2007
(2007)

Supposedly the Largest Atlas Ever Published as a Printed Book
(October 2008)

Authors, Publishers and Google Reach "Landmark Settlement"
(October 28, 2008)

Size of the Online Book Market in the U.S.
(June 1, 2009)

Amazon Sends Orwell eBooks Down the "Memory Hole"
(July 16, 2009)

USA Today Adds E-Book Sales to its Bestsellers List
(July 22, 2009)

Darnton's Case for Books: Past, Present and Future
(September 14, 2009)

e-Book Sales Represent 1.6% of Book Sales
(October 7, 2009)

The First Superman Comic Book sells for $1,000,000.
(February 22, 2010)

General Statistics on U.S. Book Publishing Industry
(May 6, 2010)

For the First Time E-books Outsell Digital Books on Amazon.com
(July 19, 2010)