The Diamond Sutra is the oldest surviving dated printed book, produced in China in 868.
The work is a Mahayana Buddhist scripture known formally as the Vajracchedika Prajnaparamita Sutra. The surviving Chinese copy ends with a colophon stating that Wang Jie commissioned it on 11 May 868 for his parents. It was printed from carved wooden blocks on a long illustrated scroll.
The scroll was found at the Mogao Caves near Dunhuang in 1907 by the archaeologist Aurel Stein. Dunhuang stood near major routes crossing the Gobi and served as a center for Buddhist pilgrimage, manuscript production, and trade.
The Diamond Sutra is often called the oldest dated printed book, not the first book ever printed. Earlier woodblock printing existed, and some undated printed fragments may be older. The date is secure because the colophon explicitly records it.