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Here, you’ll find randomized material from across the textbase’s author profiles and timelines. To jump to the content of your choice, click on its image card.

2 July 1737: The Opposition paper The Craftsman published...

Writer or writing item

2 July 1737

The Opposition paper The Craftsman published excerpts from Shakespeare 's King John which were designed to reflect obloquy on the conduct of George II .
Clark, Jonathan Charles Douglas. Samuel Johnson: Literature, religion and English cultural politics from Restoration to Romanticism. Cambridge University Press, 1994.
149

1954: This was a peak year for reproducing texts...

Writer or writing item

1954

This was a peak year for reproducing texts on Microcard, with the aim of saving library space: Early English Text Society editions and others were filmed, though the machines for reading these cards were never...

3 December 1947: A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee (born...

Writer or writing item

3 December 1947

A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee (born Tom) Williams opened on Broadway, directed by Elia Kazan and starring Marlon Brando and Jessica Tandy .
Borne Back Daily. 2001, http://borneback.com/ .
24 March 2009

29 April 1945: The concentration camp at Dachau was opened...

National or international item

29 April 1945

The concentration camp at Dachau was opened by US soldiers.
Berben, Paul. Dachau 1933-1945: The Official History. Norfolk Press, 1975.
194
Marcuse, Harold. Legacies of Dachau: The Uses and Abuses of a Concentration Camp, 1933-2001. Cambridge University Press, 2001.
50
Laqueur, Thomas. “Devoted to Terror”. London Review of Books, Vol.
37
, No. 18, 24 Sept. 2015, pp. 9-16.
10

Ella Hepworth Dixon

As a suffragist writing at the turn of the century, EHD often deals with the question of female independence, while critiquing fin de siècle society. Along with her extraordinary New Woman novel, she produced a...
Ella Hepworth Dixon Black and white photograph of Ella Hepworth Dixon. She is shown from the shoulders up, wearing a dark dress with short sleeves. Her hair is in a bun and her head is turned so that her face is in profile.

14 March 1829: Captain Frederick Marryat anonymously published...

Writer or writing item

14 March 1829

Captain Frederick Marryat anonymously published his first novel, The Naval Officer; or, Scenes and Adventures in the Life of Frank Mildmay.
Drabble, Margaret, editor. The Oxford Companion to English Literature. 5th ed., Oxford University Press, 1985.
Cox, Michael, editor. The Oxford Chronology of English Literature. Oxford University Press, 2002, 2 vols.

13 December 1791: Heinrich Heine, lyric poet, was born in Düsseldorf,...

Writer or writing item

13 December 1791

Heinrich Heine , lyric poet, was born in Düsseldorf, Germany; his family was Jewish.
“Dictionary of Literary Biography online”. Gale Databases: Literature Resource Center-LRC.
90
Drabble, Margaret, editor. The Oxford Companion to English Literature. 5th ed., Oxford University Press, 1985.

Hannah Cullwick

HC wrote seventeen diaries between the years 1854 and 1873, plus numerous letters chronicling in detail her life as a lower servant, as well as her long cross-class courtship and eventual marriage to Arthur Munby
Hannah Cullwick Sepia toned photograph of Hannah Cullwick, shown from the waist up. She is slightly turned, with her arms crossed, and gaze into the distance with a slightly challenging expression. She is wearing an oversize suit jacket, a collared shirt and cravat; her hair is cut short.

By 28 July 1883: George Meredith published Poems and Lyrics...

Writer or writing item

By 28 July 1883

George Meredith published Poems and Lyrics of the Joy of Earth.
Athenæum. J. Lection.
2909 (1883): 103

1952: Angus Wilson published Hemlock and After,...

Writer or writing item

1952

Angus Wilson published Hemlock and After, which Margaret Drabble in 2008 called one of the first gay novels to hit the postwar world.
“Back—due to popular demand”. The Guardian, 3 May 2008, pp. Review 4 - 6.
4
“Back—due to popular demand”. The Guardian, 3 May 2008, pp. Review 4 - 6.
4-6

6 July 1928: Four days after the Representation of the...

Building and people item

6 July 1928

Four days after the Representation of the People (Equal Franchise) Act received the royal assent, a celebratory breakfast was held at the Hotel Cecil in London.
“July 6, 1928, Celebrating full women’s suffrage”. Guardian Weekly, 6 July 2007, p. 20.
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5 October-1 November 1936: Ellen Wilkinson (nicknamed Red Ellen), Member...

Building and people item

5 October-1 November 1936

Ellen Wilkinson (nicknamed Red Ellen), Member of Parliament for the shipbuilding town of Jarrow, led two hundred unemployed men on a Hunger March from their hometown to London.
Mingay, Gordon Edmund. The Transformation of Britain 1830-1939. Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1986.
279
Cook, Chris, and John, 1946 - Stevenson. The Longman Handbook of Modern British History 1714-1987. 2nd ed., Longman, 1988.
314
Palmer, Alan, and Veronica Palmer. The Chronology of British History. Century, 1992.
380

Stella Gibbons

SG was a gifted comic writer whose lively, parodic first novel, Cold Comfort Farm, was such a success that it has tended to eclipse her later achievements. Much of her writing was inspired by...
Stella Gibbons Black-and-white photo of Stella Gibbons, 28 November 1977. She is posing in front of bookshelves, looking off into the distance from behind tortoise-shell glasses.

Anne Bannerman

AB was a Scottish Romantic who published three volumes of poetry as well as contributions to periodicals. Her popularity in her day is evinced by the way her contemporaries quoted her.
Anne Bannerman Title-page of Anne Bannerman's "Tales of Superstition and Chivalry", 1802, with an Italian epigraph by Guarini, whom a contemporary hand has identified as "Giovanni Battista Guarini Ferrara 1538 - Venice 1612."

Mary Eleanor Bowes, Countess of Strathmore

MEBCS , an upper-class eighteenth-century eccentric, has been famous chiefly as a marital victim. But her writings (both her tragedy and her highly imaginative autobiography) reflect some literary skill, as well as a highly unusual...
Mary Eleanor Bowes, Countess of Strathmore Black and white, head-and-shoulders photograph of an oval painting of Mary Eleanor Bowes, Countess of Strathmore, by an unknown artist. She has a large, folded white collar with black fringes, and her powderedhair is in high, tight curls.

15 April 1912: The Titanic (billed as the world's most advanced...

National or international item

15 April 1912

The Titanic (billed as the world's most advanced passenger liner and as unsinkable) sank on its maiden voyage across the Atlantic after colliding with an iceberg.
Brownstone, David, and Irene Franck. Timelines of the Arts and Literature. HarperCollins, 1994.
368

18 January 1871: The new German Empire was declared in the...

National or international item

18 January 1871

The new German Empire was declared in the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles; William I of Prussia became Emperor William I of Germany .
Cowie, Leonard W., and Leonard Woolfson. Years of Nationalism: European History 1815-1890. Edward Arnold, 1985.
256
Clark, Christopher. “I could bite the table”. London Review of Books, Vol.
33
, No. 7, 31 Mar. 2011, pp. 15-16.
15

Elizabeth Rigby

As an art historian, journalist, and public figure, ER played a major role in shaping modern art criticism. Many of her publications introduced readers and artists to new influences from German art, while others confirmed...
Elizabeth Rigby Black and white photograph of Elizabeth Rigby, seated, with her hands clasped in her lap. She is wearing a simple light dress with a long, full skirt, and a dark scarf wrapped around her shoulders. She is wearing small dark gloves with white trim at the wrists, and her dark hair is pulled back, with a braid pulled across the top of her head and another braid wrapped at the side of head.

1566: The Royal Exchange was founded in London...

Building and people item

1566

The Royal Exchange was founded in London as a centre of trade and commerce.
Steele, Sir Richard, and Joseph Addison. Selections from the Tatler and Spectator. Editor Ross, Angus, Penguin, 1982.
559n

Charlotte Perkins Gilman

CPG , a prolific early twentieth-century American writer and feminist social critic, published satirical poems and nationalist verse, newspaper articles, short stories, serialized novels, and a vast amount of non-fiction. She was unapologetically didactic, and...
Charlotte Perkins Gilman Black and white photograph of Charlotte Perkins Gilman, shown in profile, from the torso up, with one hand resting on a fur wrap. She wears a dark jacket over a white shirt and her wavy hair is done in a loose bun.

7 March 2008: Julian Blackwell, head of Blackwell's bookshop...

Building and people item

7 March 2008

Julian Blackwell , head of Blackwell's bookshop and publishing firm, made a five million pound donation to Oxford University 's Bodleian Library , the largest ever to a university library in the UK.
“¥5m Donation Will Open the Bodleian Library’s Collections”. Oxford University Library Services: News, 7 Mar. 2008.

1898: Gerald Duckworth (half-brother of Virginia...

Writer or writing item

1898

Gerald Duckworth (half-brother of Virginia Woolf ) founded his own publishing house at Henrietta Street, Covent Garden, London.
Rose, Jonathan, and Patricia J. Anderson, editors. Dictionary of Literary Biography 112. Gale Research, 1991.
112: 103
Mumby, Frank Arthur, and Ian Norrie. Mumby’s Publishing and Bookselling in the Twentieth Century. 6th ed., Bell and Hyman, 1982.
56

1850: John Wycliffe's complete Bible was printed...

Building and people item

1850

John Wycliffe 's complete Bible was printed for the first time by Oxford University Press .
Gentry, Helen, and David Greenhood. Chronology of Books and Printing. Rev. ed., Macmillan, 1936.
111

By April 1796: Robert Bage published Hermsprong, or, Man...

Writer or writing item

By April 1796

Robert Bage published Hermsprong, or, Man as He Is Not, best-known of his radical or Jacobin novels.
Bage, Robert. Hermsprong. Editor Perkins, Pamela, Broadview, 2002.
362

1866: The Civil Service Supply Association, the...

Building and people item

1866

The Civil Service Supply Association , the first middle-class cooperative retail enterprise, opened its shop in the Strand.
Adburgham, Alison. Shops and Shopping 1800-1914: Where, and in What Manner the Well-Dressed Englishwoman Bought Her Clothes. Allen and Unwin, 1964.
216
Cohen, Emmeline W. The Growth of the British Civil Service 1780-1939. Archon Books, 1965, http://U of G.
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