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Letter: Printing before the Gutenberg revolution

Published 29 November 2017

From Pak-Lee Chau, Cambridge, UK

You say the printing press was invented by Johannes Gutenberg in Germany in the 14th century (28 October, p 32). There is dispute over the first use of movable type; but we do know that each page of the Dharani Sutra scroll was printed from a single block between 704 and 751. It is now kept in the , South Korea. The complete Diamond Sutra of 868 is now in the British Museum. Both were printed in China during the Tang Dynasty.

Issue no. 3154 published 2 December 2017

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