1887 in literature

February – publishes "The Canterville Ghost", his first short story, in The Court and Society Review.^[1]

– Théâtre Libre, established by André Antoine to promote naturalism in theatre, gives its first performances in Paris, originally as an amateur ensemble.^[2]

– Syracuse University in New York State purchases the Ranke Library from the estate of historian Leopold von Ranke, outbidding the Prussian government.

November – 's first detective novel, A Study in Scarlet, is published in Beeton's Christmas Annual by Ward Lock & Co. in London, introducing the consulting detective Sherlock Holmes and his friend and chronicler Dr. Watson (illustrated by D. H. Friston).

– The Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works (1886) comes into effect.

– The Romanian literary magazine Revista Nouă is launched in Bucharest by Bogdan Petriceicu Hasdeu, who answers a request made by Ioan Bianu, Barbu Ștefănescu Delavrancea, Alexandru Vlahuță and others. The first issue, illustrated by George Demetrescu Mirea, hosts Delavrancea's Hagi Tudose and Petre Ispirescu's Sarea în bucate^[3] (a localized folkloric version of the King Leir myth).^[4]

unknown dates

– Stucco (Stuk)

– Cut by the County

– The Deemster^[5]

– Thelma

– Saracinesca

– A Relíquia (The Relic)

– Hagi Tudose

– The Republic of the Future

– A Study in Scarlet

– Les Lauriers sont coupés (early example of Stream of consciousness, narrative mode)

– Fortunata y Jacinta (publication completed)

– El anacronópete, first fiction to feature a time machine^[6]

– Thyrza

H. Rider Haggard

– The Woodlanders

– A Crystal Age

– En rade (Becalmed; serialization concludes, book publication)

– Sarea în bucate

– Madame Chrysanthème

– Testa

– The Tables Turned, Or, Nupkins Awakened: A Socialist Interlude^[7]

– Kundalatha (കുന്ദലത)

– The Doll (Lalka; serialization begins)

– Noli Me Tangere

(as Hudor Genone) – Bellona's Husband: A Romance

(pseudonym of Hale White) – Revolution in Tanner's Lane

– The Drifting Cloud

– The People of Hemsö (Hemsöborna)

Jules Verne

– La Terre (The Earth)

– Dmitrii Milev, Soviet Moldovan shorty story writer and critic (died 1937)

– Oskar Luts, Estonian author and playwright (died 1953)

– Robinson Jeffers, American poet (died 1962)

– Helen Hoyt, American poet (died 1972)

– Charles Nordhoff, English-born author (died 1947)^[10]

– Georg Trakl, Austrian poet (died of overdose 1914)^[11]

– Sheila Kaye-Smith, English writer (died 1955)^[12]

– John van Melle, South African writer (died 1953)

– Carl Ebert, German theatre and opera director (died 1980)^[13]

– Ion Buzdugan, Romanian poet and political figure (died 1967)

– Sylvia Beach (Nancy Woodbridge Beach), American publisher and memoirist (died 1962)^[14]

– Edwin Muir, Scottish poet and translator (died 1959)^[15]

– Saint-John Perse, French diplomat, writer and Nobel Prize laureate (died 1975)^[16]

– Orrick Glenday Johns, American poet and playwright (died 1946)^[17]

– George Abbott, American playwright, director and screenwriter (died 1995)^[18]

– Amber Reeves, New Zealand-born English scholar, feminist and novelist (died 1981)

– Walter Flex, German war writer (died 1917)^[19]

– Rupert Brooke, English poet (died 1915)^[20]

– Marcus Garvey, African American publisher, entrepreneur and Pan Africanist (died 1940)^[21]

– István Kühár, Prekmurje Slovene poet, writer and politician (died 1922)

– Blaise Cendrars (Frédéric-Louis Sauser), Swiss-born French writer (died 1961)^[22]

– Constantin Beldie, Romanian literary promoter and memoirist (died 1954)

– Edwin Keppel Bennett, British writer (died 1958)

– Barbu Nemțeanu, Romanian poet and translator (died 1919)

– John Reed, American journalist and poet (died 1920)^[23]

– Arnold Zweig, German novelist (died 1968)^[24]

– A. de Herz, Romanian playwright and journalist (died 1936)

– Mrs Henry Wood (Ellen Wood), English novelist (born 1814)

– François Laurent, Belgian historian (born 1810)^[25]

– Multatuli (Eduard Douwes Dekker), Dutch-born writer (born 1820)^[26]

– Elizabeth Caroline Gray, historian and travel author (born 1800)^[27]

– Pavel Annenkov, Russian critic and memoirist (born 1813)

– John Ceiriog Hughes, Welsh poet and folk song collector (born 1832)^[28]

– William Murdoch, Scottish-born Canadian poet (born 1823)

– James Grant, Scottish novelist and historian (born 1822)^[29]

– Jules Laforgue, French poet (born 1860)^[30]

– Emma Jane Guyton (Worboise), English novelist and magazine editor (born 1825)

– Friedrich Theodor Vischer, German novelist, poet, playwright and art theorist (born 1807)

– Mikalojus Akelaitis, Lithuanian writer, linguist and publicist (born 1829)

– Dinah Craik, English novelist and poet (born 1826)^[31]

– Alfred Domett, English-born New Zealand poet and politician (born 1811)^[32]

– Emma Lazarus, American poet (born 1849)^[33]

– Eliza Roxcy Snow, American poet (born 1804)^[34]