Author Birthdays

The most significant events in the history of books on the 29th of October

On this day in literary history: a historian loses his head, a celebrated biographer comes into the world, and various other historic events in the annals of literature took place…

1618: Sir Walter Raleigh is beheaded. He had been imprisoned in the Tower of London not by Elizabeth I, as is widely believed, but her successor, the Stuart king James I. It was while locked up in the Tower that he wrote his History of the World. He was released briefly but was eventually executed by beheading. Raleigh’s name, by the way, is spelled some 70 different ways in documents from his lifetime.

Read more

The most significant events in the history of books on the 28th of October

October the 28th would prove an historic day in the annals of literature. A Poet Laureate died, leading to a rethinking of the ‘tenure’ of UK Poets Laureate. And an American writer coped with failure but would refuse to be bowed down – and would go on to make literary history in the United States.

1704: John Locke dies. One of the most important figures of the Enlightenment, Locke is best remembered for An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, which was published in 1689 (though dated, or postdated, to 1690).

1806: Charlotte Turner Smith, English Romantic poet and novelist, dies. Although she is largely forgotten now, Smith helped to bring the English sonnet back into fashion, was influential in the development of the Gothic novel, and also wrote children’s books – an emerging new genre in the late eighteenth century (as revealed in our post detailing the origin of the phrase ‘Goody Two-Shoes’).

Read more

The most significant events in the history of books on the 26th of October

What significant events occurred in history – literary history – on October 26? A great work of satire was published, and a famous author of fairy tales went to school – and one of English history’s most important kings died…

1726: Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels, full title Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. In Four Parts. By Lemuel Gulliver, First a Surgeon, and then a Captain of Several Ships, is published anonymously. The book proves something of an instant bestseller: 10,000 copies will be sold in the first three weeks.

Read more

The most significant events in the history of books on the 25th of October

On this day in history, October 25, England lost one of its greatest poets, a great historian was born, and a Romantic poet penned one of his most famous poems. An historic day indeed…

1400: According to the date given on his tomb in Westminster Abbey, Geoffrey Chaucer died on this date. The area of the Abbey in which he was entombed would not become known as Poets’ Corner until much later.

1800: Thomas Babington Macaulay is born. The view of history as a march of progress became known as ‘Whiggish’ largely as a result of Macaulay’s own History of England and related works of historical scholarship (he was also a Whig politician, as opposed to a Tory, and so believed in liberal principals and social improvement).

Read more