The 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica (eleventh edition of the encyclopedia) is published as a 29-volume reference tool with articles written by some of the leading scholars of the time: Algernon Charles Swinburne, Bertrand Russell, T.H. Huxley, Ernest Rutherford.

Copyright Act in Britain: Britain establishes six copyright libraries to which copies of all books published in the country must be sent: Bodleian Library (Oxford); British Library (London); National Library of Scotland (Edinburgh); National Library of Wales (Aberystwyth); Trinity College, Dublin; and Cambridge University Library.

Frances Hodgson Burnett publishes the children’s classic, The Secret Garden. Mary Lennox, a ten-year-old girl, is born in India to British parents. Spoiled and with a temper, she is unaffectionate, angry, rude and obstinate. A cholera outbreak kills her parents, and Mary is sent to England to live with her uncle. As Mary begins to experience the outdoors and the garden and the companionship of her cousin, Colin, and the housemaid’s little brother, Dickon, she grows into an unselfish, but still strong-minded, young lady. She is also able to help Colin to grow out of his fear of death and his invalidism.

Z-baby listened to the Focus on the Family Radio Theater audio version of The Secret Garden so many times that we all almost had it memorized. It’s a full-cast drama with actress Joan Plowright doing the narration, and it’s quite well done.

G.K. Chesterton publishes the first collection of “Father Brown” short stories. Father Brown is a nondescript, humble Catholic priest in London who has a knack for solving crimes.

Edith Wharton’s new book is Ethan Frome, the Edith Wharton book that everyone gets to read for English class because it’s short. I read it a long, long time ago for English class, and I don’t remember anything about it except for the snowy New England setting. Was there a skiing or sledding accident? Or was that some othr short novel set in New England? If you want to read Edith Wharton, read House of Mirth or Age of Innocence.