50 years ago (1962):
- David Foster Wallace born, 21 February
- Chuck Palahniuk born, 21 February.
- Tracy Chevalier born, 19 October.
- Vita Sackville-West dies, 2 June.
- William Faulkner dies, 6 July.
- Hermann Hesse dies, 9 August.
- E.E. Cummings dies, 3 September.
- Karen Blixen dies, 7 September.
- Ray Bradbury's Something Wicked This Way Comes published.
- Anthony Burgess' A Clockwork Orange published.
- Ian Fleming's The Spy Who Loved Me published.
- Madeleine L'Engle's A Wrinkle in Time published.
- Ken Kesey's One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest published.
- Vladimir Nabokov's Pale Fire published.
- Katherine Anne Porter's Ship of Fools published.
- Marshall McLuhan's The Gutenberg Galaxy published.
- Rachel Carson's Silent Spring published.
- Ad-man Martin Speckter invents the interrobang ‽
100 years ago (1912):
- Barbara Tuchman born, 30 January.
- Lawrence Durrell born, 27 February.
- John Cheever born, 27 May.
- Jorge Amado born, 10 August.
- Bram Stoker dies, 20 April.
- Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's The Lost World published.
- Thomas Mann's Death in Venice published.
150 years ago (1862):
- Edith Wharton born, 24 January.
- M.R. James born, 1 August.
- Henry David Thoreau dies, 6 May.
- Victor Hugo's Les Misérables published.
200 years ago (1812):
- Charles Dickens born, 7 February.
- Robert Browning born, 7 May.
- Edward Lear born, 12 May.
- Initial volume of Grimms' Fairy Tales published.
- Lord Byron's Childe Harold's Pilgrimage published.
- Johann David Wyss' The Swiss Family Robinson published.
- American Antiquarian Society founded.
250 years ago (1762):
- Lady Mary Wortley Montagu dies, 21 August.
- Oliver Goldsmith's The Citizen of the World published.
- Jean-Jacques Rousseau's Émile and Du Contrat Social published.
- Tobias Smollett's The Life and Adventures of Sir Launcelot Greaves published.
- "Ossian's" Fingal published.
- Lords Kames' Elements of Criticism published.
300 years ago (1712):
- Jean-Jacques Rousseau born, 28 June.
- Andrew Foulis born.
- Alexander Pope's The Rape of the Lock published.
350 years ago (1662):
- Richard Bentley born, 27 January.
- Matthew Henry born, 18 October.
- John Trenchard born.
- Blaise Pascal dies, 19 August.
- Michael Wigglesworth's The Day of Doom published.
400 years ago (1612):
- Samuel Butler born, December 4.
- Anne Bradstreet born (~1612).
- Ben Jonson's Love Restored published.
- Cervantes' Don Quixote translated into English by Thomas Shelton.
450 years ago (1562):
- Lope de Vega born, 25 November.
500 years ago (1512):
- Gerardus Mercator born, 5 March.
- Amerigo Vespucci dies, 22 February.
550 years ago (1462):
- Johannes Trithemius born, 1 February.
- Jodocus Badius, Flemish printer, born.
What'd I miss? Let me know!
