Mr Pooter is the suburban anti-hero of the The Diary of a Nobody, by George and Weedon Grossmith

US author Stephen Crane cannot find a publisher for his first novel, Maggie: A Girl of the Streets, so issues it privately

French-born artist and author George du Maurier publishes his novel Trilby

Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book surrounds the child Mowgli with a collection of vivid animal guardians

Stephen Crane succeeds handsomely with his second novel, The Red Badge of Courage, set in the American Civil War

H.G. Wells publishes The Time Machine, a story about a Time Traveller whose first stop on his journey is the year 802701

The prolific US poet Edwin Arlington Robinson publishes The Torrent and the Night Before, his first poems about the fictional Tilbury Town

Henry James views the feckless adults in Maisie's life through the eyes of the child herself in What Maisie Knew

Somerset Maugham publishes his first novel, Liza of Lambeth, based on the London life he has observed as a medical student

English author Bram Stoker publishes Dracula, his gothic tale of vampirism in Transylvania

H.G. Wells publishes his science-fiction novel The War of the Worlds, in which Martians arrive in a rocket to invade earth

Henry James publishes The Turn of the Screw in a collection of short stories

E. Nesbit publishes The Story of the Treasure Seekers, introducing the Bastable family who feature in several of her books for children

Frank Baum introduces children to Oz, in his book The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

After a prodigiously productive career as novelist and journalist, Stephen Crane dies of tuberculosis at the age of 28

Jack London's first collection of stories, The Son of the Wolf, brings him a wide readership

Theodore Dreiser's first novel, Sister Carrie, receives no publicity because his publisher, Frank Doubleday, considers it immoral

The Voice of the People is the first of Ellen Glasgow's novels set in her native state, Virginia

Joseph Conrad publishes his novel Lord Jim about a life of failure and redemption in the far East

Thomas Mann's first novel, Buddenbrooks, brings him immediate success

Beatrix Potter publishes at her own expense The Tale of Peter Rabbit

Rudyard Kipling's experiences of India are put to good use in his novel Kim

Frank Norris publishes The Octopus, the first of a projected trilogy of novels set in Southern California

Edith Wharton's publishes her first full-length novel, The Valley of Decision

Rudyard Kipling publishes his Just So Stories for Little Children