British publisher George Routledge launches the Railway Library of quality novels and non-fiction, of which 1,300 titles are published in the ensuing 50 years. The idea is similar to that developed in Germany by Tauschnitz.
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First postal collection boxes are installed in Belgium, 10 years before the idea is introduced in the USA. The UK has already introduced the penny post.
1849
February 14
In New York Matthew Brady takes the first photograph of a serving US president, James Polk.
mid year
Frederick and William Langenheim buy the US rights to Fox Talbot's photographic system and open a studios in five states but the business fails as daguerrotypes achieve a dominant market position.
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Combination of Daguerreotypes and Phenakistiscope is proposed by Belgian physicist Joseph Plateau.
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Electric clock patented by Charles Shepherd in UK.
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Telephone device is invented by Italian Antonio Meucci at Havana, Cuba, using electrical impulses—but not very effectively.
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