Arts and literature
- makes his debut with the Metropolitan Opera Company in Rigoletto.
- Victor Herbert's operetta premieres.
- The Edison Corporation releases the seminal Western .
- nears end of his blue period in Barcelona and is about to move to Paris.
- , a vaudeville comedy team, open on Broadway in Dahomey, the first all-black musical on a major New York stage. They later participate in a royal command performance at Buckingham Palace for the Prince of Wales.
- French composer writes his song cycle "Sheherazade."
- publishes Souls of Black Folk, a collection of essays.
- Henry James writes .
- George Bernard Shaw writes .
- Helen Keller publishes .
- Jack London publishes .