Discovered in what is now northern Pakistan this fragment is believed by some to be the oldest written Buddhist teachings discovered. The text is written in Gandhari and is part of a traditional sutta.

This sroll is woodblock printed in ink on paper - 13th CE. It contains Volume 6 of the Parinirvana sutra and at the head of the scroll is the name Kofukuji; one of the oldest and most powerful temples in Nara, Japan.

A Chinese wood block.
A Korean library still stores 81,000 similar blocks used to print an entire copy of the Tripitaka (Canon).


A 9th c. Chinese 'book' printed on paper. This is a fine example of the earliest stage of what was to become an immensely popular form of book production where each page contains both text and illustration.