175 Confucians take rubbings
The Han emperor in China has the six main Confucian classics engraved in stone, so that scholars may take rubbings - a first step towards printing

768 Empress of Japan has a million charms
The empress of Japan, in a remarkable start to the story of printing, commissions a million copies of a Buddhist charm

868 Earliest surviving printed book
The world's first known printed book, a Diamond Sutra, is commissioned by a Buddhist monk in honour of his parents

868 Earliest surviving pictorial woodcut
The Diamand Sutra has as a frontispiece a printed woodcut depicting an enthroned Buddha

1050 Movable type in China
The concept of movable type for printing is pioneered in China, using fired clay, but it proves impractical

1380 Movable type in Korea
Koreans establish the first type foundry, casting movable type in bronze

1425 Tarot cards in great demand
Packs of tarot playing cards are among the most popular products of Europe's first printing presses

1455 First printed engravings
Master ES becomes the first artist to produce engravings

1456 Movable type in Germany
A copy of Europe's first book printed from movable type, the Gutenberg Bible, is completed in Mainz

1461 Pfister's illustrated book
Albrecht Pfister publishes the first book with printed illustrations - Der Ackermann aus Böhmen ('The farmer of Bohemia')

1470 Venetian printing rivals German
The first Italian printing press is set up in Venice, which soon rivals Germany for the quality of its printing

1476 Caxton sets up in London
Caxton establishes the first English printing press in London, after working in the new trade in Bruges

1477 Ptolemy's world map is printed
Ptolemy's concept of the world, with the Atlantic stretching to China and India, is printed in Bologna – fifteen years before Columbus sails west

1492 World's first globe lacks America
The world's first globe is published by Martin Behaim without showing America, in the very year of Columbus' voyage

1493 Nuremberg Chronicle
The Nuremberg Chronicle integrates text and pictures in an ambitious history of the world

1495 Dürer master printmaker
Dürer, the first great artist to tackle the complexities of printing, becomes a master of woodcut and engraving

1495 Roman and italic in Venice
The type faces known as roman and italic are created in Venice by the printers Nicolas Jenson and Aldus Manutius

1500 First etchings
The first etchings are printed in Augsburg, from iron plates

1520 First pamphlet war
Europe's new printing presses make possible the first pamphlet war, spreading instant arguments for and against the Reformation

1530 Printed illustrations of botany
German botanist Otto Brunfels publishes Living images of plants, the first serious work of natural history with printed illustrations

1560 Copper-plate writing recommended
A book to teach good handwriting is published by Gianfrancesco Cresci, with examples engraved on copper plates

1569 Mercator maps the world
Flemish cartographer Gerardus Mercator publishes a map of the world, using the projection now known by his name

1595 World's first atlas
A year after Mercator's death, his son publishes a bound collection of his maps with the title Atlas, or Cosmographic Meditations

1640 Bay Psalm Book
The first book published in England's American colonies is Bay Psalm Book, a revised translation of the psalms

1649 Hundred guilder for one print
Rembrandt creates an etching so desirable that it becomes known as the Hundred Guilder Print

1650 Japan's floating world
The pleasure districts of Edo and Kyoto provide the delights of ukiyo-e, the 'floating world'

1658 Prince pioneers half-tone prints
Prince Rupert of the Rhine pioneers mezzotint, the first half-tone technique in printing

1690 Steam engine with piston
The French scientist Denis Papin, while professor of mathematics at Marburg, develops the first steam engine to use a piston

1757 Walpole founds Strawberry Hill Press
Walpole founds a printing press, the Strawberry Hill Press.

1768 Technique of aquatint discovered
A French artist, Jean Baptiste le Prince, discovers the aquatint technique in printmaking

1780 Utamaro provides courtesans
Japanese artist Kitagawa Utamaro is a master of colour woodcuts, often depicting the courtesan district of Edo

1798 Senefelder discovers lithography
Austrian author Alois Senefelder, experimenting with grease and water on stone, discovers the principles of lithography

1825 Goya masters lithography
The elderly Francisco de Goya becomes the first great artist to attempt lithography

1830 Hokusai does Mount Fuji
Hokusai begins to publish his famous colour-printed views of Mount Fuji

1838 Birds of America
John James Audubon completes publication of the 435 plates forming his 4-volume Birds of America

1849 David Roberts' Holy Land etc.
Scottish painter David Roberts completes publication of his 6-volume The Holy Land, Syria, Idumea, Arabia, Egypt & Nubia

1855 Images published from Crimean front
English artist William Simpson sends sketches from the Crimea which achieve rapid circulation in Britain as tinted lithographs

1855 Christmas magazine with colour plates
The Christmas issue of the Illustrated London News includes chromolithographs, introducing the era of colour journalism

1879 Swan patents bromide paper
English physicist Joseph Swan receives a patent for bromide paper, which becomes the standard material for printing photographs

1984 Genetic fingerprinting
Genetic (or DNA) fingerprinting is invented and developed by British geneticist Alec Jeffreys