Today in Bookish and Literary History, January 26

 1891 Duchess of Padua by Oscar Wilde - Ireland

The Duchess of Padua is a play by Oscar Wilde. It is a five-act melodramatic tragedy set in Padua and written in blank verse.

1900 When We Dead Awaken by Henrik Ibsen - Norway

The first act takes place outside a spa overlooking a fjord. Sculptor Arnold Rubek and his wife Maia have just had breakfast and are reading newspapers and drinking champagne, the spa is quiet and calm. Their conversation is casual, but Arnold hints at being unhappy with his life. Maia also hints at having a general sense of disappointment. Any profits made from the sale of this book will go towards supporting the Freeriver Community project, a project that aims to support community and encourage well-being.

1927 Saturday's Children by Maxwell Anderson - US

In "Saturday's Children: A Comedy in Three Acts" by Maxwell Anderson, we follow the captivating story of Florrie and Bobby. Florrie has always believed in settling down and conforming to society's expectations, but Bobby has other plans; she is more interested in pursuing her career than in settling down and getting married.

1975 Seascape by Edward Albee - US

On the heels of the success of Edward Albee’s The Collected Plays of Edward Albee, Overlook brings back―in a stand-alone volume―one of Albee’s most cherished plays, a fantastic story of what it means to be alive―winner of the 1975 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. On a deserted stretch of beach, a middle-aged couple relaxes after a picnic lunch and converse idly about home, family, and their life together. She sketches; he naps. Then, suddenly, they are joined by two sea creatures, a pair of lizards from the depths of the ocean, with whom they engage in a fascinating dialogue. The emotional and intellectual reverberations of this bizarre conversation will linger in the heart and the mind long after the curtain falls―or the last page is turned.

• Pulitzer Prize Winner, 1975

1976 American Buffalo by David Mamet - US

Best American Play New York Drama Critics' Circle Award during the 1976-77 season this volatile drama starred Robert Duvall in the original Broadway production and has seen revivals with Al Pacino and most recently on Broadway with John Leguizamo in 2008. In a Chicago junk shop three small time crooks plot to rob a man of his coin collection the showpiece of which is a valuable "Buffalo nickel". These high-minded grifters fancy themselves busin.

1978 Destination: Void by Frank Herbert - US

The starship Earthling, filled with thousands of hybernating colonists en route to a new world at Tau Ceti, is stranded beyond the solar system when the ship’s three Organic Mental Cores—disembodied human brains that control the vessel’s functions—go insane. An emergency skeleton crew sees only one chance for survival: to create an artificial consciousness in the Earthling’s primary computer, which could guide them to their destination . . . or could destroy the human race. Frank Herbert’s classic novel that begins the epic Pandora Sequence (written with Bill Ransom), which also includes The Jesus Incident, The Lazarus Effect, and The Ascension Factor.

1994 The Memory Police by Yoko Ogawa - Japan

An enthralling Orwellian novel about the terrors of state surveillance from one of Japan's greatest writers.

• Shortlisted for the International Booker Prize 2020

2011 The Hand That First Held Mine by Maggie O'Farrell - UK

From the best-selling author of The Vanishing of Esme Lennox comes a spellbinding novel that shows there are no accidents, in life and in love.

2016 The Love That Split the World by Emily Henry - US

Emily Henry's stunning debut novel is Friday Night Lights meets The Time Traveler's Wife and perfectly captures those bittersweet months after high school, when we dream not only of the future, but of all the roads and paths we've left untaken.

2021 Let Me Tell You What I Mean by Joan Didion - US

A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK OF THE YEAR • NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER • From one of our most iconic and influential writers, the award-winning author of The Year of Magical Thinking: a timeless collection of mostly early pieces that reveal what would become Joan Didion's subjects, including the press, politics, California robber barons, women, and her own self-doubt.

2023 My Father's House by Joseph O'Connor - Ireland

From the acclaimed, bestselling author of Star of the Sea and winner of the 2021 Irish Book Awards Book of the Year for Shadowplay, comes a gripping and atmospheric new novel set in occupied Rome.