First appearance of E. W. Hornung's fictional gentleman thief A. J. Raffles in the story "The Ides of March" in Cassell's Magazine (London).
The stories were collected into one volume—with two additional tales—under the name "The Amateur Cracksman", which was published the following year. Hornung used a narrative form similar to Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories.
Virginia Stephen, the future Virginia Woolf, writes her first work of fiction, a short story which becomes known as "Phyllis and Rosamond" when first published, posthumously.
"Phyllis and Rosamond" is a short story included in "The complete shorter fiction of Virginia Woolf" (1985). It is a lesser-known work that reflects her early experimentation with narrative form and character development.
"His soul swooned slowly as he heard the snow falling faintly through the universe and faintly falling, like the descent of their last end, upon all the living and the dead."
In June 1914.
James Joyce's Dubliners, a collection of fifteen short stories depicting the Irish middle classes in and around Dublin during the early 20th century, is published in London.
The first Pulitzer Prizes are awarded: Laura E. Richards, Maude H. Elliott, and Florence Hall receive the first for biography (for Julia Ward Howe), Jean Jules Jusserand the first for history with With Americans of Past and Present Days, and Herbert B. Swope the first for journalism for his work for the New York World.
Élisabeth Thible becomes the first woman to fly in an untethered hot air balloon. Her flight covers four kilometres in 45 minutes, and reached 1,500 metres altitude (estimated)
American writer, historian and poet Elizabeth Fries Ellet died #OTD in 1877.
She is best known for her works on women’s contributions to American history, particularly during the American Revolutionary War. Her extensive research and writings helped to highlight the often overlooked roles that women played in significant historical events.
"Like southern birds, whose wings of light
Are cold and hueless while at rest—
But spread to soar in upward flight,
Appear in glorious plumage drest;
The poet’s soul—while darkly close
Its pinions, bids no passion glow;
But roused at length from dull repose,
Lights, while it spurns, the world below."
LIKE SOUTHERN BIRDS. Poems, translated and original (1835)
~Elizabeth Fries Ellet (October 18, 1818 – June 3, 1877)
Kafka's works were not widely known during his lifetime, and he published only a few of his stories. Most of his major works were published posthumously by his friend and literary executor, Max Brod, despite Kafka's instructions to destroy his manuscripts.
"I think we ought to read only the kind of books that wound and stab us. If the book we are reading doesn't wake us up with a blow on the head, what are we reading it for? ... A book must be the axe for the frozen sea inside us."
Danish poet and novelist Karl Adolph Gjellerup was born #OTD in 1857.
His first novel, "En Idealist Shwa," was published in 1878, marking his transition from theology to literature. His novel "Germanernes Lærling" (1882) is an example of his work from the Modern Breakthrough movement, where he focused on psychological realism and social issues.
French lexicographer and philosopher Émile Littré died #OTD in 1881.
He is best known for his comprehensive work on the French language, the "Dictionnaire de la langue française". This dictionary remains a cornerstone of French lexicography, known for its comprehensive treatment of the language, including historical usage, etymology, and quotations from literature.
Guglielmo Marconi applies for a patent for his wireless telegraph.
On 13 May 1897, Marconi sent the first ever wireless communication over open sea – a message was transmitted over the Bristol Channel from Flat Holm Island to Lavernock Point near Cardiff, a distance of 6 kilometres. The message read "Are you ready".
Anglo-Irish inventor, writer, and educationalist Richard Lovell Edgeworth was born #OTD in 1744.
Edgeworth was one of the early experimenters with the optical telegraph, a precursor to the electrical telegraph. His work in this area was influential in the development of semaphore communication systems. Together with his daughter Maria, he co-authored several educational works ("Practical Education" - 1798).
Herwegh's poetry is characterized by its passionate advocacy for freedom and democracy. He became famous with his collection "Gedichte eines Lebendigen", published in 1841. This work was widely acclaimed for its revolutionary zeal and critique of the existing social and political order.
"The anxious night is now over,
We ride silently, we ride silently,
And ride to our doom.
How sharply the morning wind blows!
Mrs. Innkeeper, one more glass quickly
Before dying, before dying."
French mathematician Évariste Galois died #OTD in 1832.
Galois developed a deep understanding of the relationship between polynomial equations and group theory. He showed how the solutions to polynomial equations are related to the structure of certain groups, now called Galois groups. This connection helps determine whether a polynomial can be solved by radicals (i.e., using a finite number of root extractions).
«Je rêve d'un jour où l'égoïsme ne régnera plus dans les sciences, où on s'associera pour étudier, au lieu d'envoyer aux académiciens des plis cachetés, on s'empressera de publier ses moindres observations pour peu qu'elles soient nouvelles, et on ajoutera " je ne sais pas le reste".».
"How far we are to consider the interests of posterity when they seem to conflict with those of now-existing human beings? The answer to this, though, seems clear: the time at which a man exists can’t affect the value of his happiness from a universal point of view; so the interests of posterity must concern a utilitarian as much as those of his contemporaries."
"At times it has been doubtful to me if Emerson really knows or feels what Poetry is at its highest, as in the Bible, for instance, or Homer or Shakspeare. I see he covertly or plainly likes best superb verbal polish, or something old or odd."