December 3 - Carl Zeiss, German lens maker (b. 1816)
December 31 - Samson Raphael Hirsch, German rabbi (b. 1808)
Events
January 3 - The refracting telescope at the Lick Observatory, measuring 91 cm in diameter, is used for the first time. It was the largest telescope in the world at the time.
January 27 - In Washington, D.C., the National Geographic Society is founded.
March 2 - The Convention of Constantinople is signed, guaranteeing free maritime passage through the Suez Canal during war and peace.
March 11 - The Great Blizzard of 1888 begins along the eastern seaboard of the United States, shutting down commerce and killing more than 400.
March 20 - The premiere of the very first Romani language operetta was staged in Moscow, Russia.
April 11 - The Concertgebouw in Amsterdam is inaugurated.
May 13 - With the passage of the Lei Áurea ("Golden Law"), Brazil abolishes slavery.
June 3 - The poem "Casey at the Bat", by Ernest Lawrence Thayer, is published in the San Francisco Examiner.
June 5 - The Rio de la Plata Earthquake takes place.
June 23 - Frederick Douglass is the first African-American nominated for U.S. president.
June 29 - First (known) recording of classical music made, Handel's Israel in Egypt on wax cylinder.
July 15 - The stratovolcano Mount Bandai erupts killing approximately 500 people.
August 5 - Bertha Benz drives from Mannheim to Pforzheim in the first long distance automobile trip.
August 20 - Mutineers imprison Emin Pasha at Dufile.
August 21 - The first successful adding machine in the United States is patented by William Seward Burroughs.
August 31 - Mary Ann Nichols is murdered. She is the first of Jack the Ripper's known victims.
September 4 - George Eastman registers the trademark Kodak and receives a patent for his camera that uses roll film.
September 6 - Charles Turner becomes the first bowler to take 250 wickets in an English season ¨C a feat since accomplished only by Tom Richardson (twice), J.T. Hearne, Wilfred Rhodes (twice) and Tich Freeman (six times).
September 8 - In London, the body of Jack the Ripper's second murder victim, Annie Chapman, is found.
September 8 - In England the first six Football League matches ever are played.
September 11 - Death of the Argentine politician Domingo Sarmiento, after whom the Latin American Teacher's Day is chosen.
September 22 - The first issue of National Geographic Magazine is published
September 30 - Jack the Ripper kills his third and fourth victims, Elizabeth Stride and Catherine Eddowes.
October 9 - The Washington Monument officially opens to the general public.
October 14 - Louis Le Prince films first motion picture: Roundhay Garden Scene.
October 15 - The "From Hell" letter sent by Jack the Ripper is received by the investigators.
October 17 - Thomas Edison files a patent for the Optical Phonograph (the first movie).
November 9 - Jack the Ripper kills Mary Jane Kelly, his last known victim.
December 9 - Statistician Herman Hollerith installs his computing device at the United States War Department.
December 18 - Richard Wetherill and his brother in-law discover the ancient Indian ruins of Mesa Verde.
