The pleasure districts of Edo and Kyoto provide the delights of ukiyo-e, the 'floating world'

Prince Rupert of the Rhine pioneers mezzotint, the first half-tone technique in printing

The French scientist Denis Papin, while professor of mathematics at Marburg, develops the first steam engine to use a piston

Walpole founds a printing press, the Strawberry Hill Press.

A French artist, Jean Baptiste le Prince, discovers the aquatint technique in printmaking

Japanese artist Kitagawa Utamaro is a master of colour woodcuts, often depicting the courtesan district of Edo

Austrian author Alois Senefelder, experimenting with grease and water on stone, discovers the principles of lithography

The elderly Francisco de Goya becomes the first great artist to attempt lithography

Hokusai begins to publish his famous colour-printed views of Mount Fuji

John James Audubon completes publication of the 435 plates forming his 4-volume Birds of America

Scottish painter David Roberts completes publication of his 6-volume The Holy Land, Syria, Idumea, Arabia, Egypt & Nubia

English artist William Simpson sends sketches from the Crimea which achieve rapid circulation in Britain as tinted lithographs

The Christmas issue of the Illustrated London News includes chromolithographs, introducing the era of colour journalism

English physicist Joseph Swan receives a patent for bromide paper, which becomes the standard material for printing photographs

Genetic (or DNA) fingerprinting is invented and developed by British geneticist Alec Jeffreys