The Oldest Printed Book in Existence
The oldest printed book in existence is the the Diamond Sutra, dated 868. It was discovered in the Thousand Buddhas Cave in the walled city of Dunhuang (Sha-chou) on the Silk Road connecting China with Central Asia and the Western world.
It is currently on display in the British Museum. The scroll, some sixteen feet long, 17 an half feet long and 10 and half inches wide, bears the following inscription: "reverently made for universal free distribution by Wang Jie on behalf of his parents on the fifteenth of the fourth moon of the ninth year of Xian Long (May 11, 868)"
But nobody knows when the first printed book was since nobody knows when book printing first came into existence. 600 years later, Woodblock printed books (printed from wooden blocks) were introduced into Europe. Gutenberg first used metal movable type in Europe in about 1455, when Gutenberg's 42 line Bible was in print.