PreviousDays✦THE WIKI
← All historyTHE ARCHIVE · 2 STORIES

Before 1500

Ancient worlds, enduring ideas.

PICK A CHAPTER

History doesn’t stand still.

FOLLOW YOUR CURIOSITYSee technology in the image atlas ↗
MOMENTS FROM THIS ERA

Meet the moments.

2 illustrated stories · growing daily
An ink-stained printer arranges metal type beside a timber press and drying sheets in a medieval workshop.Technology

Caxton dates the Dictes or Sayings of the Philosophers

A completion statement dated 18 November 1477 gives William Caxton’s Westminster edition of the Dictes or Sayings of the Philosophers a firm place in the chronology of English printing. Its significance requires distinguishing a dated book from earlier printing.

Step into the story
A Tang-period craftsperson lifts a paper sheet from a carved printing block in a wooden workshop.Technology

The Diamond Sutra scroll dated 11 May 868

A Chinese Buddhist scroll completed on 11 May 868 is the earliest surviving complete printed book with a date. Its donor's dedication shows how religious merit, family devotion and the reproduction of texts came together in Tang China.

Step into the story
THERE’S A GAME IN EVERY DAY

Come for the story.
Stay for the challenge.

See a moment. Hear its soundtrack. Follow the clues. The daily PreviousDays quiz is waiting — and so are your friends.

Play the quiz ↗