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

The Earliest Bookbindings
(Circa 100 BCE)

The Form of the Manuscript Book Gradually Shifts from the Roll to the Codex
(Circa 150 CE – 450 CE)

Confirmation of the Adoption of the Codex Form of the Book by the Early Christians
(300 CE – 350 CE)

St. Jerome Criticizes Luxurious Manuscripts
(384 CE)

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

The Oldest Surviving Consular Diptych -- an Object that Could be Used as a Writing Tablet
(406 CE)

The Earliest Treasure Bookcovers Made of Ivory
(Circa 450 CE)

Possibly the Earliest Surviving Illuminated Christian Manuscripts
(Circa 500 CE – 650)

The Codex Argenteus, Written in Silver and Gold Letters on Purple Vellum
(Circa 520)

The First Surviving Metal Bookcovers
(Circa 550)

The Scriptorium and Library at the Vivarium
(Circa 560)

The End of the Continuity of Late Latin Culture in Most of Italy
(Circa 585)

The Earliest Western Metalwork Bookcovers
(Circa 600)

The Illuminated Gospel Book as a Tool for Evangelization
(627)

One of the Smallest Surviving Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts and the Earliest Surviving Western Binding in Europe
(Circa 650)

The Finest Surviving Coptic Bookbinding
(Circa 650 – 750)

The Earliest Surviving Complete Bible in the Latin Vulgate, and One of the Earliest Surviving Images of Bookbindings and a Bookcase
(Circa 685)

Creation of the Lindisfarne Gospels
(715 – 720)

One of the Great Treasures of Early Carolingian Metalwork
(760)

The Codex Aureus of Lorsch and its Dispersal
(778 – 820)

The First Treasure Binding Associated with its Original Codex
(790 – 795)

The Codex Aureus of St. Emmeram
(Circa 870)

The Magnificent Upper Cover of the Lindau Gospels
(Circa 875)

Possibly the Most Valuable Book in the World
(Circa 998 – 1001)

Production of Medieval Arabic Manuscripts
(Circa 1025)

Medieval Handbook of Applied Arts Including Book Production
(1100 – 1120)

Twelfth Century Images of the Processes in Book Production
(Circa 1150)

An Idea of the Costs of Producing Medieval Manuscripts
(1374)

Costs for a Missal Produced in 1382
(1382)

Dissolution of the Monasteries Brings Destruction and Dispersal of Libraries
(1536 – 1541)

The Earliest European Manual on Bookbinding
(1612)

Probably the Earliest Records of the Charges for Trade Bindings in England
(1619)

One of the Most Significant Private Libraries Preserved Intact from Seventeenth Century England, in its Original Bookcases
(Circa 1650 – 1703)

Laws of Book Production and the Book Trade
(1675)

The Earliest Technical Manual on Bookbinding
(1708)

The First Exhaustive Manual on Bookbinding
(1741 – 1753)

The First Separately Printed French Treatise on Bookbinding
(1763)

Earliest Precursor to the Dust Jacket?
(1791)

First Periodic Table of the Elements
(1808 – 1827)

The First Edition Bindings of Cloth-Backed Paper Boards
(1810 – 1820)

The First English Book Entirely on Bookbinding
(1811)

The First Cloth Edition Bindings
(Circa 1821)

The Earliest Known Dust Jacket
(1829)

Case Bindings which Allow Mechanized Stamping
(Circa 1830)

Michael Faraday on Decay in Leather Bookbindings
(April 7, 1843)

The First Dust Jackets in the Flap-Style on Books Printed in English
(1857)

First Publisher-Issued Dust Jacket in the United States
(1865)

The Machine as Seen at the End of the Mechanical Age
(1968)