#OTD in 1455.
Traditionally the date of publication of the Gutenberg Bible, the first Western book printed with movable type.
The Gutenberg Bible is an edition of the Latin Vulgate printed in the 1450s by Johannes Gutenberg in Mainz (Holy Roman Empire), in present-day Germany.
#OTD in 1869.
Booth's Theatre opens on Manhattan with the owner, Edwin Booth, playing the male lead in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet.
Some reports said it was one of the most elaborate productions of Romeo and Juliet ever seen in America; it was certainly the most popular, running for over six weeks and earning over $60,000 (equivalent to $1,000,000 in 2023).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romeo_and_Juliet
Romeo and Juliet at PG:
https://gutenberg.org/ebooks/1513
#OTD in 1898.
Émile Zola is imprisoned in France after writing J'Accuse…!, a letter accusing the French government of antisemitism and wrongfully imprisoning Captain Alfred Dreyfus.
He was sentenced to jail and was removed from the Legion of Honour. To avoid jail time, Zola fled to England. He stayed there until the cabinet fell; he continued to defend Dreyfus.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J%27Accuse...!
J'Accuse at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/20974
#OTD in 1859.
German scholar Constantin von Tischendorf identifies portions of the mid-4th century Codex Sinaiticus (an uncial manuscript of the Greek Bible) at Saint Catherine's Monastery on Mount Sinai in the Khedivate of Egypt and arranges for its presentation to his patron, Tsar Alexander II of Russia at Saint Petersburg.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Codex_Sinaiticus
Tischendorf.IV.Monumenta Sacra Inedita. 1857-1870 at TIA:
https://archive.org/details/Tischendorf.iv.monumentaSacraInedita.newcollection.subscript.6vols.1857-1870/01.MonumentaSacraInedita.NCVA.FragEvangLucLibGen.v1.Tischendorf.Subsc.1857./mode/1up
#OTD in 1616.
Galileo Galilei is formally banned by the Roman Catholic Church from teaching or defending the view that the earth orbits the sun.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galileo_affair#Inquisition_and_first_judgment,_1616
Galileo Galilei at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/search/?query=galileo+galilei&submit_search=Search
#OtD 4 Feb 1913 Rosa Parks was born. Often wrongly described as "quiet", she was actually a lifelong activist who supported Black power, Malcolm X and worked alongside the League of Revolutionary Black Workers in Detroit. More about the LRBW in our pod: https://workingclasshistory.com/2018/08/28/e12-the-league-of-revolutionary-black-workers-in-detroit/
#OTD in 1913.
Claudio Monteverdi's last opera L'incoronazione di Poppea was performed theatrically for the first time in more than 250 years.
Two versions of the musical score of L'incoronazione exist, both from the 1650s. The first was rediscovered in Venice in 1888, the second in Naples in 1930. The Naples score is linked to the revival of the opera in that city in 1651.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%27incoronazione_di_Poppea
Books about Monteverdi at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/search/?query=monteverdi&submit_search=Search
#OTD in 1936.
Charlie Chaplin's film Modern Times opened in New York City.
During a European tour promoting City Lights, Chaplin got the inspiration for Modern Times from both the lamentable conditions of the continent through the Great Depression, along with a conversation with Mahatma Gandhi in which they discussed modern technology.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modern_Times_(film)
Books about or by Charlie Chaplin at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/search/?query=charlie+chaplin&submit_search=Search
Dutch-Swiss mathematician and physicist Daniel Bernoulli was born #OTD in 1700.
He is particularly remembered for his applications of mathematics to mechanics, especially fluid mechanics, and for his pioneering work in probability and statistics. His name is commemorated in the Bernoulli's principle, a particular example of the conservation of energy.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Bernoulli
Books by Daniel Bernoulli at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/41345
Happy birthday Shakespeare (born #OTD in 1564)!
#OTD in 1932. To mark Shakespeare's birthday:
The Royal Shakespeare Company's new theatre opens at Stratford-upon-Avon.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Shakespeare_Company
The Folger Shakespeare Library opens in Washington, D.C.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Folger_Shakespeare_Library
Shakespeare at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/65
#OnThisDay, 24 Mar 1944, Éliane Plewman is arrested by the Gestapo in Nazi-occupied France after six months operating as a courier for the Special Operations Executive. The British SOE supported the French resistance. A courier carried messages and equipment around their network.
#WomenInHistory #OTD #History #WomensHistory #WorldWar2 #EuropeanHistory #SOE
1/2
#OtD 8 Mar 1979 women who had participated in the Iranian revolution took to the streets with the slogan: "We did not make a revolution to go back!" The protest came shortly after the announcement of a law making wearing of the hijab mandatory https://stories.workingclasshistory.com/article/11068/iranian-women-protest
#OTD in 1776.
Scottish political economist Adam Smith's book The Wealth of Nations, the first modern work in economics, was published.
It has become a fundamental work in classical economics, and has been described as "the first formulation of a comprehensive system of political economy".
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wealth_of_Nations
Wealth of Nations at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/3300
#OTD in 1896.
While Oscar Wilde is in prison, his play Salome (written in 1891) is premièred in its original French by Lugné-Poe's Théâtre de l'Œuvre company in Paris, perhaps at the Comédie-Parisienne. Because the play depicted biblical characters it was banned in Britain and was not performed publicly there until 1931.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salome_(play)
Salomé at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1339
French mathematician and philosopher René Descartes died #OTD in 1650.
He is known for his influential arguments for substance dualism, where mind and body are considered to have distinct essences, one being characterized by thought, the other by spatial extension. He has been dubbed the "Father of Modern Philosophy" and the "Father of Modern Mathematics."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ren%C3%A9_Descartes
Books by René Descartes at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/44
American mathematician and aerospace engineer Mary Jackson died #OTD in 2005.
She worked at Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, for most of her career. She started as a computer engineer at the segregated West Area Computing division in 1951. In 1958, after taking engineering classes, she became NASA's first black female engineer.
#OTD in 1889.
Henrik Ibsen's symbolic drama The Lady from the Sea (1888) receives simultaneous first performances in Oslo (in Norwegian) and Weimar (in German). The drama introduces the character of Hilde Wangel who is again portrayed in Ibsen's later play The Master Builder.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lady_from_the_Sea
The Lady from the Sea at PG:
https://gutenberg.org/ebooks/2765
"Conscience is but a word that cowards use,
Devis'd at first to keep the strong in awe;
Our strong arms be our conscience, swords our law."
King Richard, scene iii
#OTD in 1817.
Junius Brutus Booth makes his stage debut in the title role of Shakespeare's Richard III at the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden in London.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_III_(play)
Richard III at PG:
https://gutenberg.org/ebooks/1503
#OTD in 1851.
The first performance of Rigoletto by Giuseppe Verdi takes place in Venice. The Italian libretto was written by Francesco Maria Piave based on the 1832 play Le roi s'amuse by Victor Hugo.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rigoletto
Le Roi s'amuse at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/29549
#OTD in 1914.
In New York City the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers is established to protect the copyrighted musical compositions of its members.
It was founded by Victor Herbert, George Botsford, Silvio Hein, Irving Berlin, Louis Hirsch, John Raymond Hubbell, Gustave Kerker, & Jean Schwartz; Glen MacDonough; publishers George Maxwell and Jay Witmark & copyright attorney Nathan Burkan.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Society_of_Composers,_Authors_and_Publishers
ASCAP archives at NYPL:
https://archives.nypl.org/mus/22936
"Yet each man kills the thing he loves
By each let this be heard.
Some do it with a bitter look,
Some with a flattering word.
The coward does it with a kiss,
The brave man with a sword!"
#OTD in 1898.
The Ballad of Reading Gaol by Oscar Wilde was published by Leonard Smithers, under the name "C.3.3.", which stood for cell block C, landing 3, cell 3.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ballad_of_Reading_Gaol
Ballad of Reading Gaol at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/301
#OTD in 1889.
August Strindberg's naturalistic drama Miss Julie (Fröken Julie), 1888, is first performed, by the Scandinavian Experimental Theater at the University of Copenhagen. His wife Siri von Essen plays the title rôle.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miss_Julie
Miss Julie at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/14347
"I’m only sorry I couldn’t have had as good a chance as a boy, and have been put to my trade regularly."
American inventor Margaret E. Knight was born #OTD in 1838.
She founded the Eastern Paper Bag Company in 1870, creating paper bags for groceries similar in form to the ones that would be used in later generations. Knight received dozens of patents in different fields and became a symbol for women's empowerment.
"Il y a aujourd'hui trois cent quarante-huit ans six mois et dix-neuf jours que les parisiens s'éveillèrent au bruit de toutes les clochés sonnant à grande volée dans la triple enceinte de la Cité, de l'Université et de la Ville."
#OTD in 1831.
Victor Hugo's historical romantic Gothic novel Notre-Dame de Paris, known in English as The Hunchback of Notre-Dame, is published by Gosselin in Paris.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hunchback_of_Notre-Dame
Notre-Dame de Paris at PG:
https://gutenberg.org/ebooks/2610
