| 1440 | Johann Gutenberg develops a printing press that uses movable type. |
| 1455 | Gutenberg prints first book, a Latin version of the Bible. |
| 1475 | First book printed in English: The Recuyell of the Historyes of Troye. |
| 1500s | Henry the VIIIth and Pope Paul IV both issue lists of banned books. |
| 1640 | First book printed in America: The Whole Book of Psalms. |
| 1770s | Books help promote American revolution. |
| 1800 | Library of Congress formed. |
| 1825-1850 | Number of public libraries triples |
| 1845 | Paperback books introduced. |
| 1852 | Uncle Tom's Cabin becomes bestseller and fuels anti-slavery attitudes. |
| 1861-1865 | Civil War promotes paperback reading. |
| 1891 | New copyright law hampers publication of paperbacks. |
| 1900 | Beginning of the commercialization of publishing |
| 1936 | Gone with the Wind becomes international bestseller. |
| 1939 | Pocket Books founded. Beginning of new era of popularity for paperbacks. |
| 1941-1945 | World War II increases book sales. |
| 1950-1960 | Publishers begin to specialize in particular book topics. |
| 1970s | Book publishing industry shows trend toward concentration and consolidation as mergers increase. |
| 1980 | About 70 percent of the books sold in the U.S. are paperbacks |
| 1994 | For first time in history, chain bookstores sell more books than independently owned bookstores. Book selling becomes dominated by "superstores." |
| 1995 | Trend toward consolidation among publishers continues. Industry dominated by seven large conglomerates |
| 1995 | Amazon.com debuts. Book sales over Internet become important part of retailing. |
| 1998 | Books go digital as e-books make appearance.
http://cnn.com/TECH/computing/9812/17/t_t/e.books/index.html |
| 2000 | Stephen King publishes novella online. |
