This timeline attempts a large-scale overview of significant points in the development of global written cultures. Embedded within this timeline are links to several more focused timelines, three authored by students of ENGL3611 (Winter 2022):;xNLx;;xNLx;>> [Expansion of the printing press over time and geographical space: Germany through Europe](https://www.tiki-toki.com/timeline/entry/1793612/Expansion-of-the-printing-press-over-time-and-geographical-space-Germany-through-Europe/) by Willow Matheson, Catherine Taylor, and Hailey Thibodeau;xNLx;>> [Printing in America](https://www.tiki-toki.com/timeline/entry/1813477/Printing-in-America/#vars!date=1638-01-01_04:50:58!) by Blake Allen, Mary Connors, Theresa Daigle, and Emma Higdon;xNLx;>> [Women and literacy in the Renaissance Era](https://www.tiki-toki.com/timeline/entry/1819356/Women-and-literacy-in-the-Renaissance-Era/) by Keila Gallardo Cubas, Meagan Gautreau, Alyssa Marie Goguen, and Sarah Marie King;xNLx;;xNLx;The image to the left is a detail from the cover of a remarkable book, [A Passamaquoddy-Maliseet Dictionary: Peskotomuhkati Wolastoqewi Latuwewakon](https://umaine.edu/umpress/featured-books__trashed/a-passamaquoddy-maliseet-dictionary/), posted here as a reminder that books are always political, they are always important, and they are always grounded in this our shared world.;xNLx;;xNLx;ATTRIBUTIONS & RESOURCES;xNLx;;xNLx;[Passamaquoddy-Maliseet Language Portal](https://pmportal.org/browse-dictionary);xNLx;;xNLx;Image (left): Cover, [A Passamaquoddy-Maliseet Dictionary: Peskotomuhkati Wolastoqewi Latuwewakon](https://umaine.edu/umpress/featured-books__trashed/a-passamaquoddy-maliseet-dictionary/). David A. Francis and Robert M. Leavitt; UofMaine/Goose Lane, 2008.;xNLx;;xNLx;Background images: Writing: Sumerian Cuneiform Tablet, April 2009, © Gerhard Huber, Creative Commons ([Global Geography](https://global-geography.org/af/Geography/Asia/Syria/Pictures/Other_Side/415_Ugarit_Schrifttafeln)).;xNLx;;xNLx;Codex: Mayan MS known as the "Dresden Codex" because of where it is held ([Bibliodyssey](https://bibliodyssey.blogspot.com/2010/02/oldest-book-from-americas.html)). The "Dresden Codex" may be seen [here](https://katalog.slub-dresden.de/id/0-1646762169).;xNLx;;xNLx;Printing Press: Jan Collaert I, "The Invention of Copper Engraving," plate 19 from New Inventions of Modern Times [Nova Reperta], ca. 1600 ([Met Museum](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/659685)).;xNLx;;xNLx;Digital Age: Computer Circuit Board, [Public Domain](https://www.publicdomainpictures.net/en/view-image.php?image=281573&picture=computer-circuit-board).;xNLx;;xNLx;This timeline benefits from a number of sources, including Jeremy Norman's [HistoryofInformation.com](https://www.historyofinformation.com/index.php), the [History of Printing Timeline](https://printinghistory.org/timeline/) from the American History of Printing Association, and the invaluable [Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Main_Page). Images are shared under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) license unless otherwise stated. All errors are my own.;xNLx;;xNLx;Compiled by Miriam Jones, Humanities and Languages, University of New Brunswick Saint John, in Menahkwesk on the unceded land of the Wabanaki Confederacy.
Click below to visit a Timeline of the development of calligraphy in Europe and North America, with a focus on Britain.
Some of the first known electoral posters were written on the walls of buildings in Pompeii.
Invention of the papermaking process credited to Ts'ai Lun [Cai Lun] during the Han Dynasty of China.
Daily gazette in Rome, presented on message boards.
The Rosetta Stone was made: a stela carrying a priestly decree from the reign of Ptolemy V in three languages: Egyptian hieroglyphs, demotic and Greek script.
Processed animal skin believed first to have been used as a writing surface in Pergamon (Anatolian Greece, Asia Minor, now Turkey) ca. 200 BCE.
Dibao -- official news reports -- developed in China sometime in this period.
The oldest known paper book, Pi Yu Jing, composed of six different materials ca. 256 CE.
Codex Vaticanus is one of the oldest copies of the Bible extant. It is written in uncial majuscules on 759 leaves of vellum.
Codex Sinaiticus is a 4th century (after 325 CE) manuscript Bible written in Greek in uncial letters on parchment.
