Buddhist scripture of 684 AD. It is now exhibited in a calligraphy museum in Tokyo, the capital of Japan.
The first printed book published in China was the Buddhist text, the “Diamond
Sutra” by Wang Chick in 868 AD. Some copies of the Buddhist scriptures printed in 1377 are preserved in museums in China. Though the Egyptians made paper by 3500 BC, it came to Europe only by the 11th century. The first paper mill in Europe was set up in Spain in 1120.
Block printing came to Europe by 1300. It is believed that Johannes
Gutenburg of Germany had developed printing technology around 1439.
Gutenburg also invented an oil-based ink for printing. He printed the Bible in 1450. It was in the Latin language and had 1282 pages .He used movable
Printing blocks for the book. Printing technology came to India in 1556. During the Maurya period, kings used to circulate news to the people as proclamations. In ancient Rome,
Acta Diurna, or government announcements, were published regularly. They were inscribed in metal or stone. These can be considered as the earliest form of newspapers. In China also, the government produced such news sheets called tipao.
Many researchers consider “The Peking Gazette”, published from China, as the first newspaper. It was started in 618 .In the initial stages, this newspaper was hand written and distributed to the readers. Later it was printed and circulated. The Peking Gazette continued its publication till the beginning of the twentieth century.
Newsletters circulated by rulers were the first form of