The first bookshop in the world was started in Rome in the 1st century BC by an Armenian named Tiran. According to Roman records, a Roman general and statesman Lucius Cornelius Sulla Felix was able to collect more than 30,000 books with assistance of Tiran.
The Roman book trade network was quite developed and covered the whole empire.
The total number of book printings reached 1000. Originally, books had been sold in format of scrolls, but since the 2nd century the basic form of literature has been codex.
No concept of copyright or publishing rights has existed back then. After the fall of Rome, the book trade has gradually declined. Copying and distribution of manuscripts have been resumed in the early Middle Ages in monastic scriptoria.
