3883 entries. Last updated June 19, 2013.

Bookbinding Timeline Outline

  • Eras
  • Themes

300 BCE – 30 CE

The Earliest Bookbindings
(Circa 100 BCE)

30 CE – 500 CE

Several of the leather-bound codices of the Nag Hammadi Library. (View Larger)
The Form of the Manuscript Book Gradually Shifts from the Roll to the Codex
(Circa 150 CE – 450 CE)

Codex IV found at Nag Hammadi. (View Larger)
Early Christian Papyrus Codices in Coptic Bindings
(300 CE – 350 CE)

Saint Jerome. (View Larger)
St. Jerome Criticizes Luxurious Manuscripts
(384 CE)

Page 215 of MS G.67, depicting the acts of the apostles. (View Larger)
"The Earliest Evidence for Tooling on a Leather Bookbinding"
(Circa 400 CE)

The mentioned diptych, portraying Emperor Honorius in both panels.
The Oldest Surviving Consular Diptych
(406 CE)

The Earliest Image of Codices in a Book Cabinet and Possibly the Earliest Image of a Bookbinding in Wall Art
(426 CE – 450 CE)

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

500 CE – 600

The manuscript before and after restoration and repagination. Image from June 2010 edition of The Arts Newspaper. (View Larger)
Possibly the Earliest Surviving Illuminated Christian Manuscripts
(Circa 500 CE – 650)

A page from the Codex Argenteus. (View Larger)
The Codex Argenteus, The Primary Surviving Example of the Gothic Language
(Circa 520)

How the Middle Ages Processed and Recycled Roman Culture
(Circa 524 – 1300)

The Antioch Chalice, with which the bookcovers were found.
The First Surviving Metal Bookcovers
(Circa 550)

An image from Codex Amiantinus. (Click to view larger.)
The Scriptorium and Library at the Vivarium
(Circa 560)

600 – 700

(View Larger)
The Earliest Western Metalwork Bookcovers
(Circa 600)

York Minster (View Larger)
The Illuminated Gospel Book as a Tool for Evangelization
(627)

The binding of the Stonyhurst Gospel. (View Larger)
The Earliest European Book that Survived Completely Intact in its Original…
(Circa 650)

MS M.569 of the Pierpont Morgan Library, considered the finest surviving Coptic bookbinding. (View Larger)
The Finest Surviving Coptic Bookbinding
(Circa 650 – 750)

Folio 5r of Codex Amiatinus, showing Ezra. (View Larger)
The Codex Amiatinus: the Earliest Surviving Complete Bible in the Latin…
(Circa 685)

700 – 800

Folio 27r of the Lindisfarne Gospels. (View Larger)
Creation of the Lindisfarne Gospels
(715 – 720)

Early Chinese Bookbinding Techniques as Practiced in Dunhuang
(Circa 750 – 950)

The ornate cover on the Lindau Gospels, located in the Pierpont Morgan Library. (View Larger)
One of the Great Treasures of Early Carolingian Metalwork
(760)

Folio 72v of the Codex Aureus of Lorsch, depicting Christ. (View Larger)
The Codex Aureus of Lorsch and its Dispersal
(778 – 820)

A Book of Psalms from the Late 8th Century Found in a Bog in 2006
(Circa 780)

A facsimile of the Dagulf Psalter, also known as the Golden Psalter. (View Larger)
The First Treasure Binding Associated with its Original Codex
(783 – 795)

800 – 900

The Codex Aureus of St. Emmeram
(Circa 870)

The upper cover of the Lindau Gospels. (View Larger)
The Magnificent Upper Cover of the Lindau Gospels
(Circa 875)

900 – 1000

A pair of facing paintings showing the peoples of the world adoring Otto III, from the Goespels of Otto III. (View Larger)
Possibly the Most Valuable Book in the World
(Circa 998 – 1001)

1000 – 1100

Production of Medieval Arabic Manuscripts
(Circa 1025)

1100 – 1200

Folio 1 of Codex 2527, preserved at the Austrian National Library. (View Larger)
Medieval Handbook of Applied Arts Including Book Production
(1100 – 1120)

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

Limoges Enamel Book Cover Plaque
(Circa 1185 – 1210)

1300 – 1400

Ivory Booklet with Scenes of the Passion
(Circa 1300 – 1320)

The Oldest Known English Public Advertisement
(Circa 1340)

The Relative Costs of the Components of Medieval Manuscripts
(1374 – 1375)

Costs for a Missal Produced in 1382
(1382)

1450 – 1500

The First Dated Book Printed in Italy Containing the First Printing in Greek
(October 29, 1465)

1500 – 1550

First Use of Pasteboard for the Covers of Bindings
(1508)

In 1536, King Henry VIII formally disbands all monasteries in his realm and seizes their property, including thousands of books and manuscripts, most of which were subsequently lost or destroyed. (View Larger)
Dissolution of the Monasteries Brings Destruction and Dispersal of Libraries
(1536 – 1541)

1550 – 1600

Images of Trades and Technologies
(1568)

1600 – 1650

The Earliest European Manual on Bookbinding
(1612)

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

1650 – 1700

<p>A painting of Samuel Pepys by John Hayls, 1666.</p>
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)

1700 – 1750

The Earliest Technical Manual on Bookbinding
(1708)

The First Use of Full Color Printing by the Three-Color Process in a Medical or Scientific Book
(1736 – 1741)

The First Exhaustive Manual on Bookbinding
(1741 – 1753)

1750 – 1800

The Central Enterprise of the French Enlightenment
(1751 – 1780)

The First Separately Printed French Treatise on Bookbinding
(1763)

Earliest Precursor to the Dust Jacket?
(1791)

1800 – 1850

The 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)

Manual of Lithography, Bookbinding, and Cleaning and Restoring Paper
(1818 – 1824)

The Earliest Known Dust Jacket
(1819 – 1829)

The First Cloth Edition Bindings
(Circa 1821)

Case Bindings which Allow Mechanized Stamping
(Circa 1830)

The Penny Magazine
(1832 – 1845)

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

The First Book on the Restoration of Rare Books and their Bindings
(1846)

1850 – 1875

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

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

Spectacular Portrayal of One of the Largest 19th Century Book Manufacturers
(1867)

1875 – 1900

Perhaps the Earliest Antiquarian Bookseller's Catalogue Illustrated with Plates Printed in Color
(1878)

1900 – 1910

Problems with Leather Used in Bookbinding
(1905)

1950 – 1960

"Fahrenheit 451"
(1953 – 2011)

1960 – 1970

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