My local bookshop currently has a spate of books all following the
'History of XYZ in 100 objects' format, mainly on world war
topics.Usually they aim to pick a diverse range of museum objects /
artefacts / rock albums / stuff that photograph nicely and have a good
accompanying essay about why they are relevant to the story being
told.  It seems to be a very particular way of telling history that
appeals to my archaeological classificatory mindset.  I think the
recent boom came from the British Museum's radio history of the world
in 100 Objects project from a few years ago.  It may even be the
bastard cousin of the '1001 reality TV shows to watch before you die'
books.
The earliest book of this sort in my collection is  _Making of the
modern world: milestones of science and technology_ [1992], edited
by Neil Cossons.  Although it doesn't have the magic number in the
title it uses the collection of the GB  Science Museum to tell the
narrative of industrialisation and has all the other hallmarks of the
format in the same way - a big sexy photo of a turbine, then a facing
page with everything you wanted to know about turbines in general and
why this one is so important.  Great stuff.
I was wondering whether 1992 is the earliest, or whether Hist Archers
had other earlier examples.  No particular reason, just abstract
pondering for the holiday season, and an idle fancy that there would
be at least a hundred of them, allowing us to make the definitive
history of the history of XYZ in 100 books genre.
Denis