On March 11th, 1744: Sotheby’s English auction house in London held its first ever auction of books. They came from the private collection of a Baron of Alderley. Originally named Baker and Leigh, this auction house claims to have sold the library that Napoleon took into exile at St. Helena. It not holds locations internationally,…
On February 11, 1942: The first “Archie” comic book debuted! These comics have sold over 2 billion copies world-wide, and are published in dozen different languages. It consists of a variety of action-adventure super heroes and is the inspiration for the show “Riverdale”! The show “Sabrina the Teenage Witch” is also based on a character…
On February 4th, 1922: The first part of Katherine Mansfield’s short story “The Garden Party” appeared in the Saturday Westminster Gazette! It would be published serially in three parts through the month of February. It struggles with the ideas of class discrimination, and addresses a blindness of the upper classes to their own privileges. These struggles…
On January 27th, 1832, Lewis Carrol was born! His given name at birth was Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, but he began using the pseudonym around 1856, nine years before he published Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. He studied both Mathematics and Writing at Christ Church College and published several mathematical writings. Many of his writing philosophies were based on…
On December 3rd, 1926: Agatha Christie disappeared from her car a few miles outside of her home in Surrey, England. She was missing for around ten days before she was recognized in a hotel in Harrogate. It was reported that she was experiencing amnesia, following a suicide attempt in her car caused by a quarrel…
On November 25, 1952: Agatha Christie’s murder-mystery play The Mousetrap opened at the Ambassadors Theatre, London. Over sixty years later, it is still running – making it the longest-running theatrical production in history. It’s twist ending came as a shock to most viewers, and show attendees were asked to keep the twist a secret after leaving the theatre….
On November 18, 1865: The New York Saturday Press published “Jim Smiley and His Jumping Frog,” by Mark Twain. This story is considered to be Twain’s first great success as a writer, bringing him attention nationwide. Following the mission of the narrator to learn about a man named Jim Smiley, the reader is taken through several tall…
On November 11, 1807: Washington Irving’s periodical, “Salmagundi” was published. He was the first to associate the name “Gotham” with New York City. The periodical itself was based in satire, and its subtitle read: “The Whim-whams and Opinions of Launcelot Langstaff, Esq. & Others”. The authors all wrote under pseudonyms, and used their writing to…
On November 4th, 2001; The first Harry Potter movie, “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone” premiered! In the United States, it premiered as “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone”, to set a more magical and supernatural tone to the series. This first book of a seven book series written by JK Rowling has sold over 5 million…
On October 28, 1954: Ernest Hemingway won the Nobel Prize for Literature. He was recognized for his “mastery of the art of narrative”. This award was given to him shortly after he published The Old Man and the Sea. His work influenced contemporary literature greatly, and he was well known for publishing a large number of…