3883 entries. Last updated June 19, 2013.

1500 to 1550 Timeline Outline

  • Eras
  • Themes

Early Printing in Hebrew
(1500)

Aldus's "Rules of the Modern Academy" Known From a Single Surviving Copy
(Circa 1500)

Pencil 'lead' has never actually contained the metal; its name arrose from a visual similarity between the two substances. (View Larger)
Origins of the Pencil
(Circa 1500 – 1565)

<p>A recipe for Custarde taken from the Boke of Kokery, c. 1440.</p>
The First English Cookbook, Known from a Single Surviving Copy
(1500)

The Transition from Latin to the Vernacular in the 16th Century
(Circa 1500 – 1600)

The Growth of Literacy from 1100 to 1500
(Circa 1500)

A Census of Print Runs for Fifteenth-Century Books
(1500)

The 'Nuremberg Chronicle,' written in Latin by Hartmann Schedel and published in 1493, is represented by c. 1250 surviving copies, more than any other incunabulum. (View Larger)
Printing Presses are Established in 282 Cities
(December 1500)

The Number of Early Printed Editions Which Survived Versus the Number of Surviving Medieval Manuscripts
(December 1500)

'Harmonice Musices Odhecaton,' a collection of secular songs, was the first book of music to be printed using movable type. (View Larger)
The First Book of Music Printed from Movable Type
(1501)

Pope Alexander VI issued a bull granting cesorial powers over book printing to Archbishops and local authorities serving under them. (View Larger)
Censorship from One of the Most Controversial of Renaissance Popes
(1501)

A sample of the humanist script developed by Niccolò de' Niccoli, which became the basis for Francesco Griffo's 'italic' type. (View Larger)
First Book Completely Printed in Italic Type and the First of Aldus's Pocket…
(April 1501)

Michelangelo's marble 'David,' symbol of the Florentine Renaissance, depicts the biblical hero holding rock and sling, his right hand intentionally enlarged to show the power of God acting through him. (View Larger)
Michelangelo's David
(September 13, 1501 – September 8, 1504)

The First Modern Dictionary: the Most Successful and Widely Reprinted Reference Work of the Early Modern Period
(1502)

One of the First General Reference Works Produced for the Printed Book Market
(1503)

Tomb relief of Johannes Trithemius
Partially a Reflection of the Increased Availability of Information after the Development of Printing
(1505)

Portrait of Symphorien Champier.
The First Medical Bibliography and the First Medical History after Celsus
(1506)

A portion of the last surviving copy of the Waldseemüller map, made by German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller in 1507, was the first published map to include the name 'America.' (View Larger)
The First Map to Name America: The Waldseemuller Wall Map and the Waldseemuller…
(April 1507)

The printer's mark of Androw Myllar, who together with Walter Chepman became the first printer in Scotland under King James IV.
The First Book Issued from the First Press in Scotland
(September 15, 1507)

The First English Book on Preparing and Carving Meat, Game and Fish
(1508)

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

The Aberdeen Breviary, published in 1507 and the first major work to be printed in Scotland, briefly recounts the lives of various Scottish saints. (View Larger)
The Aberdeen Breviary, the First Major Book Printed in Scotland
(1509 – 1510)

Maximilain I, who greatly extended the House of Habsburg around the turn of the 16th century, decreed in 1509 the confiscation of Jewish books as a method of encouraging Jewish conversion to Christianity; however, he reversed his decision in 1510 and the texts were returned. (View Larger)
Maximilian I Orders the Confiscation of Jewish Books, but Eventually Rescinds…
(August 19, 1509 – June 6, 1510)

Collecting Books and Prints in the Early Sixteenth Century
(Circa 1510 – 1539)

The first printed edition of 'De Architectura,' originally written by Roman architect Marcus Virtuvius Pollio, was printed in Venice in 1511 and contained 136 woodcut illustrations and diagrams. (View Larger)
The First Illustrated Edition of Vitruvius
(May 22, 1511)

The Earliest English Newsbook
(September 1513)

Gregorio de Gregorii, an Italian printer, published the first book in Arabic with moveable type in 1514, commissioned by Pope Julius II for delivery to Christians in the Middle East. (View Larger)
The First Book Printed in Arabic by Movable Type
(1514 – 1517)

The First Illustrated Manual on the Art of Writing
(1514)

Pope Leo X, famous for later fighting Martin Luther's 95 theses, issued the strictest decree of papal censorship to date in 1515, with the aim of eliminating 'dangerous' texts which were causing evil to propogate 'from day to day.' (View Larger)
The Most Stringent Papal Censorship Before the Reformation
(May 4, 1515)

The First Book Printed on the Continent of Africa
(1516)

Alessandro Minuziano was effectively the first to challenge a 'copyright' by reprinting an edition with exclusive rights; the Pope who issued the right was angered, but later allowed the publication after a detailed apology from Minuziano. (View Larger)
The First Documented Legal Case Concerning Copyright
(1517)

Martin Luther begins the Protestant Reformation in Germany in 1517, the spread of which is largely due to the mass availability of Luther's 95 Theses in German, making the movement of the Reformation 'one of the first in history to be aided by the printing press.' (View Larger)
Launching the Protestant Reformation
(October 31, 1517)

The 'square table' of abbot Johannes Trithemius’s 'Polygraphiae libri sex. - Clavis polygraphiae' was an example of how a message might be encoded through the use of multiple alphabets. (View Larger)
The First Book on Cryptography
(July 1518)

The First Printed Edition of the Complete Babylonian Talmud
(1519 – 1523)

The title page of Pope Leo X's bull 'Exsurge Domine,' bearing the Papal coat of arms, was written to warn Martin Luther that he must recant his 95 Theses or risk excommunication. (View Larger)
The Pope Responds to the 95 Theses
(June 15, 1520)

Martin Luther's 'On the Babylonian Captivity of the Church,' in which he criticizes the seven sacraments of the Catholic Church, was the second of three treatises published by Luther in 1520 which became manifestos for the Reformation. (View Larger)
The Manifesto of the Reformation
(August 1520)

Luther Burns the Papal Bull
(December 10, 1520)

The First Work Since the Time of Galen to Show Original Anatomical Information Based upon Personal Investigation and Observation
(1521)

Pope Leo X excommunicates Reformation leader Martin Luther after Luther refused to recant his 95 Theses criticizing the Church. (View Larger)
The Pope Excommunicates Luther
(January 3, 1521)

"The Law of Printing" Issued in Response to Exsurge Domine
(May 26, 1521)

Interpreting Roman Architecture in the Language of the Renaissance
(July 15, 1521)

A Condensation of his Commentaria
(1522)

The First Manual on Humanistic Cursive
(1522 – 1524)

The First Legal Bibliography
(1522)

The First Book Published in England Devoted Exclusively to Mathematics
(October 14, 1522)

The First Large-Scale Production-Line
(Circa 1525)

The manuscript of Marco Fabio Calvo's Hippocratic Collection, transcribed in his own had, was used in the preparation of his 1525 Latin printing of the work. (View Larger)
Renaissance Revival of Hippocrates as the Precursor of Galen
(1525)

The Sack of Rome Marks the End of the High Renaissance
(May 6, 1527 – February 1528)

The Aesthetic Anatomy of Human Proportion
(1528)

First Accurate, Detailed Woodcuts of Plants Taken Directly from Nature
(1530 – 1536)

The First Printed Edition of the Greek Text of Euclid
(September 1533)

Portrait of a Elegant Young Man Mishandling a Book
(Circa 1535)

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)

Johann Dryander, one of the first German doctors to perform public disections, published his 'Anatomia Capitis Humani' in 1536, which contained the most extensive study on the human head to date, and the first 'Galenic dissection' of the brain. (View Larger)
The First Significant Book on the Anatomy of the Head
(1536 – 1537)

First Printed Edition of the Qur'an in Arabic, of Which One Copy Survived
(August 9, 1537 – August 9, 1538)

Pre-Publication Censorship in England
(November 16, 1538)

The 'Casa de la Primera Imprenta de América,' where printer Juan Pablos printed what is likely the first book in the Western Hemisphere, still stands today in Mexico City. (View Larger)
The First Book Printed in the Western Hemisphere
(June 12, 1539)

The "Fire-Using Arts, Including the First Description of Typecasting
(1540)

The first page of the 'Codex Mendoza,' which was printed in Mexico in 1540 and depicted the daily life and conquests of the Aztec empire, with traditional Aztec pictograms and explanations in Spanish. (View Larger)
The Codex Mendoza
(Circa 1540)

Robert Estienne, 16th Century Parisian scholar and printer, issued the first book-form publisher's catalog of which any copies survive in 1542.
The First Surviving Publisher's Catalogue in Book Form
(1542)

In 1542, Jean Fernel published the first treatise on human physiology in thirteen-hundred years, originally titled 'De naturali parte medicinae libri septem,' which remained the defining work on the subject for more than a century. (View Larger)
The First "Modern" Treatise on Physiology
(1542)

First Printed Edition of the Latin Translation of the Qur'an
(1542 – 1543)

Leonhard Fuch's 'herbal,' the second produced, described over 500 plants, including over 100 foreign ones, but was also unique for its inclusion of self-portraits of the three artists responsible for the woodcut illustrations. (View Larger)
With Self-Portraits of the Artists
(1542)

The First Printed Book to Set Out Rules for a Healthy Diet
(1542)

Copernicus' own manuscript of 'De revolutionibus orbium coelestium,' published shortly before his death in 1543, showing his theory of a heliocentric system, as opposed to Ptolemy's geocentric system, which accepted as nearly self-evident since Classical times. (View Larger)
The Copernican Revolution Begins
(1543)

In 1543, Martin Luther publishes the first modern antisemitic work, going so far as to condone the enslavement and murder of Jews, writing that the public is 'at fault in not slaying them.' (View Larger)
The First Work of Modern Antisemitism
(1543)

Henry VIII Restricts the Reading of the Bible
(May 12, 1543)

The title page of Andreas Versalius' 'De humani corporis fabrica libri septem,' published in 1543, was a revolutionary work of unmatched scientific and artistic precision. (View Larger)
Unprecedented Blending of Scientific Exposition, Art and Typography
(June 1543)

A Condensation or Road-Map to the Fabrica
(June 1543)

The First Ornithological Treatise to Contain Descriptions of Individual Species Based upon the Author's own Observations
(1544)

In 1545, Swiss zoologist and naturalist Conrad Gessner publishes the first 'universal bibliography,' cataloging about 12,000 titles in an attempt to control the 'labyrinth' of books and information which had arrisen since the invention of printing. (View Larger)
The First Universal Bibliography Since the Invention of Printing
(1545 – 1555)

Erotic Images Made Acceptable by their Adaptation for Medical Purposes
(1545 – 1546)

Renaissance Surgery and Graphic Arts
(1545)

The First Illustration of an Adjustable Type-Mould
(1545)

The First Edition of Vesalius Published in England
(October 1545 – 1553)

Masterpiece of High Renaissance Manuscript Illumination
(1546)

Pioneering Work on Environmental Science and Meteorology
(1546)

First Attempt to Formulate Methods of Identification of an Exotic Drug and Methods of Detecting its Adulteration
(October 1546)

The First General Subject Index
(1548 – 1549)

Spiritual Exercises
(1548)

The First National Bibliography
(1548)