Publishing and writing define civilized societies and are the core characteristics of recorded history. Anything before the written record is generally considered pre-history, which means publishing is as old as our collective historical records--dating back to the 4th or even 5th millennium BCE. The three essentials of book and manuscript publication over the ages can be summed up as writing, paper and printing, in that order.
Before printing came about, all books were hand written and drawn. The lack of mass distribution and manufacturing made them the realm of the few who could read and afford to obtain manuscripts. Different mediums were used before paper, including stone, animal hides and various pulps. Paper, as it exists now, seems to have originated in what is today China, circa the early 2nd century AD.
According to most evidence, the initial purpose of publishing was to support religious and political establishments. Largely hand-copied and therefore slow and difficult, publishing was devoted to disseminating laws, edicts and history. There was some mainstream publishing in Greece, Egypt, Rome and China, but the consumer base was small and the costs were prohibitive. Before the advent of modern printing, most storytelling remained verbal. In the so-called middle ages, monasteries and the first universities in Europe were the main publishers--with almost all work done for religious reasons.
Printing emerged to a limited extend in 6th century AD China, and then again in the 11th century, when the first movable type appeared. But because of political and social factors, these innovations did not take root and didn't serve to popularize books.
Johannes Gutenberg of Germany is remembered as the main proponent of industrial-scale printing with his development of the press in the 15th century. By the early 16th century, printing became widespread, with general knowledge books, encyclopedias and even fiction beginning to appear en masse.
Oil-based inks and tree-sourced paper made printing in the modern sense a fact of life by the 17th century, as both were readily available and affordable. Large printing and publishing houses evolved, driven further by growing literacy in Europe and its colonies post the Lutheran reformation. Related to books, newspapers helped make publishing a viable business, as the more dynamic Europe became, the more news were there to report.
Outside Europe and its possessions, publishing remained limited to political and social elites. Conversely, Europeans had easier access to exciting information about the "new world," helping explain why the West was so keen on colonization after the late 15th century.
The current versions of books known to consumers--paperback, trade, hardcover--began arriving in markets around the mid- to late 19th century, thanks to the industrialization of printing and distribution. It was at this time that publishing became so big that specialization evolved. Publishers focused on working with authors and editing, printers printed and booksellers sold the final product.
By the 1930s, modern book publishing was fully evolved and one of the biggest industries on the planet, with popular demand for printed matter reaching all-time highs despite, or perhaps because of, the Great Depression.
Book publishing remains a huge business, but competing innovations such as the cinema, television, electronic storage, video games and the Internet all threaten to make paper books irrelevant in the course of time. Books on tape entered mass distribution in the 1970s, and the Internet further eroded the reader base publishers can expect to access by offering text online and through devices such as Kindle.
At the same time, other forms of storytelling and entertainment have proven more accessible and easier to consume than books--to wit the rise of movies, television and gaming. Even so, book publishing maintains some growth and more titles than ever are being published--possibly due to the positive influence consolidated retailers such as Borders, Barnes and Noble and Amazon have had on the industry.