From January till September 1905.
L. Frank Baum's Animal Fairy Tales appear in The Delineator magazine.
For several decades in the twentieth century, the collection was a "lost" book by Baum; it resurfaced when the International Wizard of Oz Club published the stories in one volume in 1969.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animal_Fairy_Tales
The Animal Fairy Tales at Delineator:
https://reader.library.cornell.edu/docviewer/digital?id=hearth1891092_64_2#page/106/mode/1up
German poet and novelist Achim von Arnim was born #OTD in 1781.
He is best known as one of the key figures of German Romanticism. His works were collected, with an introduction by Wilhelm Grimm, in twenty volumes (1839–48). He influenced late Romantics and Realists such as Eduard Mörike, Heinrich Heine, Ludwig Uhland and Theodor Storm, particularly through the Wunderhorn.
Books by Achim von Arnim at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/848
"Poet, never chase the dream.
Laugh yourself and turn away.
Mask your hunger, let it seem
Small matter if he come or stay;..."
#OTD in 1918.
The English poet Robert Graves marries the painter Nancy Nicholson in London. The wedding guests include Wilfred Owen, whose first nationally published poem appears three days later ("Miners" in The Nation). He will die by the end of the year.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Graves
Robert Graves at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/628
#OTD in 1902.
The first example of a Sherlockian game – a study of inconsistencies of dates in Arthur Conan Doyle's The Hound of the Baskervilles (the serialisation of which in The Strand Magazine concludes in April) by publisher Frank Sidgwick – appears in The Cambridge Review.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canon_of_Sherlock_Holmes
Arthur Conan Doyle at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/69
American journalist Nellie Bly died #OTD in 1922.
She was widely known for her record-breaking trip around the world in 72 days in emulation of Jules Verne's fictional character Phileas Fogg, & for an exposé in which she worked undercover to report on a mental institution from within. Bly was also an inventor, receiving U.S. patent 697,553 for a novel milk can & U.S. patent 703,711 for a stacking garbage can.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nellie_Bly
Nellie Bly at PG
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/9648
Wit, courage and guile: ten literary heroines to inspire you on International Women’s Day
Whether courageous and confident or quietly subversive, literary heroines can inspire us in our everyday lives.
by Amy Wilcockson
Women fiction at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/subjects/search/?query=women+fiction
Swedish writer Astrid Lindgren died #OTD in 2002.
She is best known for several children's book series, featuring Pippi Longstocking, Emil of Lönneberga, Karlsson-on-the-Roof, and the Six Bullerby Children (Children of Noisy Village in the US), and for the children's fantasy novels Mio, My Son; Ronia the Robber's Daughter; and The Brothers Lionheart.
Man Finds Rare Trove of Winnie-the-Pooh Drawings and Manuscripts in His Father's Attic
By Sarah Kuta
Books by A. A. Milne at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/730
"And my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the floor
Shall be lifted — nevermore!"
#OTD in 1845.
Edgar Allan Poe first publishes the narrative poem "The Raven", under his own name in The Evening Mirror of New York, of which he is a staff critic until February. It is rapidly reprinted across the United States and appears in book form by the end of the year.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Raven
The Raven at PG:
https://gutenberg.org/ebooks/14082
https://gutenberg.org/ebooks/17192
"Ameisen" steht in der #Bücherwabe für die These von Bayo Akomolafe, dass wir hinsichtlich der Denkwege, die unsere Lebens- und Wirtschaftsform bestimmen, in einer tödlichen Logik gefangen sind, wie Ameisen in einer #Ameisenmühle: Ameisen folgen den Duftspuren ihrer Vorgänger und laufen im Kreis bis sie sterben.
#books #bücher #lesen #literature #literatur #bookstodon #chemnitz
In Febraury 1895.
The Bookman (New York), a monthly, is first published by Dodd, Mead and Company with Harry Thurston Peck as editor. It publishes the first bestseller list, which is headed by Frank R. Stockton's novel The Adventures of Captain Horn. A sequel, Mrs. Cliff's Yacht, was released in 1897.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Adventures_of_Captain_Horn
The Adventures of Captain Horn at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/12190
"We have really everything in common with America nowadays, except, of course, language."
In February 1887.
Oscar Wilde publishes "The Canterville Ghost", his first short story, in The Court and Society Review. It was the first of Wilde's stories to be published.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Canterville_Ghost
The Canterville Ghost at PG:
https://gutenberg.org/ebooks/14522
"The intense interest aroused in the public by what was known at the time as “The Styles Case” has now somewhat subsided."
Opening lines
#OTD in 1920.
Agatha Christie’s first novel is published in the U.K. The Mysterious Affair at Styles is the first detective novel by Dame Agatha Christie, introducing her fictional detective Hercule Poirot. It was written in the middle of the First World War, in 1916.
The Mysterious Affair at Syles at PG:
https://gutenberg.org/ebooks/863
"The mystery of love is greater than the mystery of death."
Salomé (1893)
Oscar Wilde’s Portraits, Poems, Letters and Manuscripts Head to Auction 125 Years After His Death
Other rare items, available for purchase in February, include illustrations, theater programs, telegrams and newspapers
by Christian Thorsberg
Oscar Wilde at PG:
https://gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/111
The Sociopolitical Impact of A Passage to India
E. M. Forster’s novel captured not only the tensions between colonizers and colonized but also the fraught internal politics that shaped India’s fight for independence.
https://daily.jstor.org/the-sociopolitical-impact-of-a-passage-to-india/
A Passage to India at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/61221
How an Obscure German Noblewoman Influenced the Way Anne Frank Wrote Her Diary
Biographer Ruth Franklin on the Value of a Careful Eye and Fresh Perspective
https://lithub.com/how-an-obscure-german-noblewoman-influenced-the-way-anne-frank-wrote-her-diary/
chats in squirrel are limited
to a sort of Roman salute
foreleg extended then folded
open paw on breast as if to say
Look I take you in my open paw
and hold you to my heart
then it gets tricky…
—William Bonar, “SQRL”
published in OFFERING (Red Squirrel Press, 2015)
Happy #SquirrelAppreciationDay 🐿️ – 21 January – to all who celebrate
https://www.scottishpoetrylibrary.org.uk/poem/sqrl/
#Scottish #literature #poem #poetry #squirrel #squirrels #SquirrelAppreciationDay
Voices from the Archives: Mary, Burns & Lochhead
29 Jan, Perth. Tickets £8.50/£6
A panel discussion examining 3 manuscripts, each offering a powerful lens on Mary, Queen of Scots:
📜 her final letter, written just hours before her execution
🪶 Robert Burns' poetic tribute “Lament of Mary, Queen of Scots”
⌨️ Liz Lochhead's bold reimagining in her play Mary Queen of Scots Got Her Head Chopped Off
https://www.perthshireboxoffice.com/whats-on/voices-from-the-archives-mary-burns-and-lochhead
#Scottish #literature #history #MaryQueenofScots #poetry #drama
"What seems to us serious, significant and important will, in future times, be forgotten or won’t seem important at all."
#OTD in 1901.
Anton Chekhov's Three Sisters premieres at Moscow Art Theatre in Russia under the direction of Konstantin Stanislavski and Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Sisters_(play)
Three Sisters at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/7986
#OTD in 1863.
Jules Verne's novel Five Weeks in a Balloon, or, Journeys and Discoveries in Africa by Three Englishmen (Cinq semaines en ballon) is published in Paris. It will be the first of Verne's Voyages Extraordinaires. This was Verne's first novel to be published by Pierre-Jules Hetzel, following the rejection of Voyage en Angleterre et en Écosse.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five_Weeks_in_a_Balloon
Five Weeks in a Balloon at PG:
https://gutenberg.org/ebooks/3526
https://gutenberg.org/ebooks/4548
#OTD in 1848.
Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels publish The Communist Manifesto (Manifest der Kommunistischen Partei) in London.
Published amid the Revolutions of 1848 in Europe, the manifesto remains one of the world's most influential political documents.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Communist_Manifesto
Where to start with: Jane Austen
From sparkling dialogue to surprise character traits, wit, humour and tragedy, this is the year to appreciate Austen
By John Mullan
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2025/feb/20/where-to-start-with-jane-austen
Jane Austen at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/68
#OTD in 1904.
J. M. Synge's tragedy Riders to the Sea is first performed at Molesworth Hall, Dublin, by the Irish National Theatre Society, with Helen Laird playing Maurya.
Synge's use of phrasing from the Irish language is part of the Irish Literary Revival, a period when Irish literature looked to encourage pride and nationalism in Ireland.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riders_to_the_Sea
Riders to the Sea at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/994
Thon tree,
earthfast at the foot
of your Alpine meadow,
dark, with mossy branches,
– apple perhaps –
can you give it a message?
Can you please say spring
will be there soon?
—Kathleen Jamie, “Old Women”
published in THE BONNIEST COMPANIE (Picador, 2015)
https://www.panmacmillan.com/authors/kathleen-jamie/the-bonniest-companie/9781509801718
StAnza 2026
13–15 March, St Andrews & online
Tickets are on sale for StAnza 2026, Scotland’s award-winning poetry festival dedicated to bringing poetry in all its forms & many languages to audiences around the world
![The last known photograph of Anne taken in May 1942, taken at a passport photo shoot. (Photo collection Anne Frank House, Amsterdam. Public Domain Work)]](/proxy/post_attachment/598767/9106584499.jpg "The last known photograph of Anne taken in May 1942, taken at a passport photo shoot. (Photo collection Anne Frank House, Amsterdam. Public Domain Work)]")
