Q&A
What is the oldest dated book?
• SHORT ANSWER
A 1,150-year-old copy of the Diamond Sutra is our shining example
• LONG ANSWER
In 1900, tens of thousands of preserved ancient manuscripts were discovered in the Mogoa Caves, or the Caves of a Thousand Buddhas, in northwest China. Among them was a copy of a text known as the Diamond Sutra (so named because its teachings would apparently cut through pre-existing perspectives like a diamond), printed using woodblocks on a five-metre scroll and containing lessons from the historical Buddha.
What made the copy significant was a line declaring that it had been printed on “the 13th of the fourth moon of the ninth year of Xiantong”, or 11 May AD 868, making it the oldest book in the world with a definite date. The copy found its way into the hands of the Hungarian-born archaeologist Aurel Stein before being obtained by the British Library.