On This Day

What happened on this day in literary history?

Not a day goes by without something interesting happening in the world of books and writers. Here are some of the events that Susannah thinks are important.

Yesterday
Caleb Williams by William Godwin 12 May 1794: Caleb Williams is published. read more ...
Today
Cannon Hall where du Maurier spent much of her childhood 13 May 1907: Daphne du Maurier is born. read more ...
Tomorrow
The Lady of Shalott by John William Waterhouse 14 May 1842: The Lady of Shalott is published. read more ...
What happened this month?
List View
< May 2026 >
SundayMondayTuesdayWednesdayThursdayFridaySaturday
          118521852The Bros Grimm publish the first part of a dictionary 19661966Death of a Naturalist is first published 218591859Jerome K. Jerome is born
319181918Katherine Mansfield and John Middleton Murry marry 419391939Finnegans Wake is published 518151815John Keats’ first poem is published 617571757Christopher Smart is confined to a lunatic asylum 716631663The Theatre Royal, Drury Lane opened 820122012Maurice Sendak dies 918141814Mansfield Park is published
1019271927Ernest Hemingway weds Pauline Pfeiffer 1119231923Lord Peter Wimsey first appears 1217941794Caleb Williams is published 1319071907Daphne du Maurier is born 1418421842The Lady of Shalott is published 1518881888Louisa Lawson publishes The Dawn 1618361836Edgar Allan Poe marries Virginia Clemm
1719001900The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is published 1810481048Omar Khayyam is born 1917951795James Boswell dies 2018821882Sigrid Undset is born 2119081908Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde premieres 2218591859Arthur Conan Doyle is born 2320212021Eric Carle dies
2418301830Mary Had a Little Lamb is published 2517261726World’s first lending library opened 2618971897Dracula is published 2719221922The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is published 2818491849Anne Brontë dies 2918841884Oscar Wilde marries Constance Lloyd 3015931593Christopher Marlowe is killed
3116691669Samuel Pepys records the last entry in his diary