1750 to 1800 Timeline Outline

Printing about 200 Sheets per Hour
(Circa 1750)

The First Extensive Treatise on the Peruvian Knot-Based Counting Language, the Quipu
(1750)

The Central Enterprise of the French Enlightenment
(1751 – 1780)

The First Significant Catalogue Raisonne in Western Art History
(1751)

The First Discovery of Ancient Papyri in Europe
(October 19, 1752 – 1754)

Binomial Nomenclature for Plants
(1753)

The British Museum is Founded
(January 11, 1753)

The First American Political Cartoon: "JOIN, or DIE."
(May 9, 1754)

The Earliest Formal Treatment of "Data-Processing"
(1755)

"The First Treatise on Economics" (Jevons)
(1755)

Diderot on Information Overload, and the Encyclopedia as a Means of Organizing and Enhancing Associations in Knowledge
(1755)

George II Donates the "Old Royal Library"
(1757)

A Typographic Masterpiece, & the First Book Printed Partially on Wove Paper
(May 5, 1757)

Binomial Nomenclature for Animals
(1758)

The British Museum Opens
(1759)

Candide, ou l'Optimism
(1759)

The First Book Printed Entirely on Wove Paper
(October 6, 1759 – 1760)

The Copiale Cipher is Decrypted: Initiation into a Secret Society of Oculists
(Circa 1760 – 1780)

The First Scientific Explanation of Tsunamis
(1760)

The First Contemporary Art Exhibition
(April 21, 1760)

The First Comprehensive Treatise on Papermaking
(1761)

Probably the First Color-Printed Illustrations in a Major Scientific Periodical
(1761 – 1762)

Bayes's Theorem
(1763)

The First Separately Printed French Treatise on Bookbinding
(1763)

The Beginning of "Modern" Rare Book Cataloguing
(1763 – 1769)

Hargreaves Invents the Spinning Jenny
(1764)

Types and Typefounding
(1764 – 1766)

The First Type Specimen Book from an English Type Foundry
(1764)

The First Biographical Timeline Chart
(1765)

"The Most Interesting and Rarest Work" on Papermaking
(January 30, 1765 – 1771)

Computing the "Seaman's Bible"
(1766)

Probably the Earlest Illustrated Medical Book Published in the American Colonies
(1766)

Encyclopaedia Britannica Begins
(December 1768 – 1771)

Arkwright Patents his Spinning Machine
(1769 – 1775)

The Chess-Playing Turk
(1769)

The French Book Trade in Enlightenment Europe
(1769 – 1794)

The Most Influential Historical Timeline of the Eighteenth Century
(1769 – 1770)

Inspiration for "Grangerizing," A Mania for Extra-Illustration
(1769 – 1774)

The Earliest Large-Scale Data-Processing Organization
(1770)

Invention of the Rubber Eraser
(April 15, 1770)

Building Key Parts of the Handpress out of Iron
(1772)

Discovery that Growing Plants Restore Air Vitiated by Combustion or Respiration
(1772)

Probably the Most Ambitious Editorial Enterprise before the Wikipedia
(1773 – 1782)

The First Book on Western Medicine and Science Published in Japanese
(1774)

Didot Revises Fournier's Point System for Typographic Units
(1775)

The American Revolutionary War Begins
(April 17, 1775)

The Age of "Laissez-Faire"
(1776)

The Declaration of Independence
(July 4 – August 2, 1776)

The First Textbook on Zoogeography
(1777)

Lichtenberg Figures
(1777)

The Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union
(November 15, 1777 – March 1, 1781)

The First Chemistry Journal
(1778)

Technology Leading to Disruptive Economic and Social Change
(1779)

Discovery of Photosynthesis
(1779)

An Anatomy for Artists including Fantastical Elements
(1779)

The First National Geological Atlas
(1780)

Operations of a French Enlightenment Printing Shop Depicted
(Circa 1782)

Prospectus for a Monumental European Encyclopedia
(1782)

166.5 Volumes of Text but No Comprehensive Index!
(1782 – 1832)

Early Graphic Representation of Statistics
(1782)

The First Aerial Voyages
(1783 – 1784)

Reforming the Teaching of English in the United States
(1783 – 1785)

The First to Study the Effect of Gravity on Light
(1784)

The First English History of Paleography and Diplomatics
(1784)

The First Map of the United States Printed in the United States
(1784)

The First Patent for Stereotyping
(1784)

In One Gigantic Reading Room the Entire "Memory of the World"
(1785)

Origin of "The Times" of London
(1785)

Proof of the Clinical Value of Digitalis
(1785)

Foundation of Statistical Graphics: the Line Chart and Bar Chart
(1785 – 1786)

The First Automated Flour Mill
(Circa 1785)

The First System of Shorthand Used Throughout the English Speaking World
(1786)

Early Archaeological Exploration of Fertility Rites
(1786)

Foundation of Comparative Linguistics
(February 2, 1786 – 1788)

First Catalogue of the British Museum Library
(1787)

The Constitution of the United States
(September 17, 1787 – June 21, 1788)

Watt Invents the Centrifugal Governor
(1788)

The Beginnings of Papyrology
(1788)

The First Road Atlas of the United States
(1789 – 1792)

Martyr to Chemistry
(1789)

Bastille Day
(July 14, 1789)

Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen
(August 26 – August 27, 1789)

The Bill of Rights
(September 25, 1789 – December 15, 1791)

Foundation of the Archives nationales de France
(1790)

Predictor of the Cylinder Press
(1790)

Bibliographical Guide to Antiquarian Bookselling and Collecting, With Pioneering Exposition on Rarity
(1790 – 1802)

The U.S. Patent
(April 10 – July 31, 1790)

The First U.S. Census
(August 2, 1790)

The First Successful Speech Synthesizer
(1791)

Earliest Precursor to the Dust Jacket?
(1791)

The First National Code of Descriptive Cataloging--Early Use of Cards in Cataloging Books
(Circa 1791)

The First Historical Society in the United States
(January 24, 1791)

Printing as a Way to Preserve Information
(February 18, 1791)

Faster than a Messenger on Horseback
(March 2, 1791)

Jews Receive Full Citizenship in France
(September 27, 1791)

"The Magna Carta of Industrial America"
(December 5, 1791)

Invention of Steel Engraving
(Circa 1792 – 1819)

The First Free Public National Library
(1793)

Mathematical Tables Calculated by Hairdressers Unemployed after the French Revolution
(1793 – 1801)

Proposal for a National Bibliography of France
(1793 – 1794)

Printing Manual for the French Revolution
(1793)

The Metric System
(1793 – 1794)

The Chappe Telegraph
(1794)

Discovery of Echolocation or Biosonar
(1794)

Invention of Modern Pencil Lead
(1795)

The Poetry of Homer as a Product of Oral Tradition
(1795)

Discovery of the Method of Least Squares
(1795)

The First Comprehensive Bibliography of Technology
(1795)

Invention of Lithography
(1796 – 1800)

The First American Cookbook Written by an American
(1796)

The First American Type Foundry
(1796)

The Beginning of the Scientific and Art Historical Studies on Leonardo da Vinci
(1797)

The First Papermaking Machine
(1798 – 1801)

Suppression of Printing in Russia
(1798)

Probably the First Printing Presses in Africa since 1519
(1798 – 1799)

Malthus on Population
(1798)

The First Official National Industrial Exposition
(1798)

The Introduction of Bleach in Paper Production
(1798 – 1799)

Celestial Mechanics
(1799 – 1827)

The Rosetta Stone
(July 15, 1799)