Wood-block printing was invented sometime between the 4th and the 7th c in China. The earliest book that we have was p in 868 and was found in a Dunhuang cave. Wood-block printing took a long time because a new block was needed for every p in z book. By the 1 Ith century printed books could be f all over China. They included books of Confucius' thoughts, dictionaries, and books on maths. In 1340, books could be printed u-sing two c   , black and red.
A the Chinese learnt about printing so early, printing was not introduced in other parts of the world for hundreds of years. It is thought that when the great Italian traveler Marco Polo visited China in the 13th century, he s printed books. It is possible that Marco Polo brought that k to Europe. But printed books did not come to Europe u 1450 when a German called Johann Gutenberg i a printing machine. Twenty-four years later, in 1474, an Englishman called William Caxton printed the first printed book in English. His second book was about the game of chess. Caxton printed about a hundred books, and some can still be found today in museums.