The Calendar of Literary Facts contains more than 6,500 events in literary history.

William Ernest Henley publishes A Book of Verses, which contains his best-known poem, “Invictus”

William Ernest Henley edits the Scots Observer (renamed the National Observer in 1890)

Rubén Darío publishes Azul

John Crowe Ransom is born

T. S. Eliot is born

Ethel Davis Wilson is born

Anna Akhmatova is born

Jack the Ripper murders six prostitutes in the Whitechapel district of London

George Eastman develops the box camera

Wilhelm II (“Kaiser Wilhelm”) becomes emperor of Germany

S. Y. Agnon is born

Sully Prudhomme publishes Le bonheur

Frans Eemil Sillanpää is born

Louisa May Alcott dies

Explore: Little Women, Louisa May Alcott

Mourning Dove is born

Matthew Arnold dies

Explore: Sohrab and Rustum, Matthew Arnold, Dover Beach, Culture and Anarchy

Collier’s, a mass-circulation general weekly magazine, is founded by Peter Collier

Fenton Johnson is born

Fernando Pessoa is born

Explore: Fernando Pessoa

Raymond Chandler is born

Explore: The Big Sleep, Raymond Chandler

Kathleen Mansfield Beauchamp (“Katherine Mansfield”) is born

Explore: Miss Brill, Katherine Mansfield, At the Bay

Eugene O’Neill is born

Explore: Beyond the Horizon, Eugene O'Neill, Eugene O’Neill

Maxwell Anderson is born

Explore: Both Your Houses, Winterset, Maxwell Anderson