1612 in literature
This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1612.
Events
- January 6 – Ben Jonson's masque Love Restored is performed.
- January 12 – The King's Men and Queen Anne's Men unite for the first of two English Court performances in January, with Thomas Heywood's The Silver Age
- January 13 – The King's Men perform Heywood's The Rape of Lucrece.
- February 2 – Queen Anne's Men return to court to play Greene's Tu Quoque.
- May 11 – Shakespeare testifies in the Bellott v. Mountjoy lawsuit which involves his London landlord.
- November 6 – Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales, eldest son and heir to King James I of England, dies of typhoid fever. His coterie of followers, which included literary figures like Ben Jonson and John Selden, are forced to seek other patrons.
- unknown dates
- *Thomas Shelton publishes The History of the Valorous and Wittie Knight-Errant Don-Quixote of the Mancha, the first translation of Cervantes' novel Don Quixote into English.
- *The Accademia della Crusca publishes the first dictionary of the Italian language.
- *"Printers Bible": Some copies of the King James Version of the Bible printed in England this year contain an erratum with Psalm 119:161 reading "printers" "have persecuted me without a cause."
New books
- Traiano Boccalini – Ragguagli di Parnasso
- John Brinsley – Ludus literarius; or The Grammar Schoole
- John Davies – Discoverie of the True Causes why Ireland was never entirely subdued
- John Davies of Hereford – The Picture of a Happy Man
- Edward Grimeston
- * The Generall Historie of Spaine
- * The General History of the Magnificent State of Venice
- Thomas Heywood – An Apology for Actors
- Antonius Magirus – Koock-boeck ofte Familieren kevken-boeck
- William Strachey - The Historie of Travaile Into Virginia Britannia
- Francisco de Quevedo – ''La cuna y la sepultura''
New drama
- George Chapman – The Widow's Tears published
- Robert Daborne – A Christian Turn'd Turk published
- Nathan Field – A Woman is a Weathercock published
- Ben Jonson – Love Restored
- John Webster – The White Devil published
Poetry
- Michael Drayton – Poly-Olbion
- Luis de Góngora – Fábula de Polifemo y Galatea
- Expanded edition of The Passionate Pilgrim
- George Wither – Elegy on the death of Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales
Births
- February 6 – Antoine Arnauld, French theologian and philosopher
- February 7 – Thomas Killigrew, English dramatist
- February 8 – Samuel Butler, English poet and satirist
- March 4 – Jan Vos, Dutch poet and dramatist
- March 20 – Anne Bradstreet, née Dudley, English-born American poet
- unknown date – Edward King, English poet
- probable – John Rushworth, English lawyer and historian
Deaths
- February – John Gerard, English botanist and author of herbal
- March 16 – Thomas Holland, English theologian and Bible translator
- April 11 – Emanuel van Meteren, Flemish historian
- June 1 – Carlos Félix, 6-year-old son of Lope de Vega.
- July 29 – Jacques Bongars, French diplomat and scholar
- August 4 – Hugh Broughton, English Biblical scholar
- September – Giovanni de' Bardi, Italian music theorist and critic
- September 24 – Johannes Lippius, German theologian, philosopher, composer, and music theorist
- September 27 – Piotr Skarga, Polish hagiographer
- October 7 – Giovanni Battista Guarini, Italian poet
- November 20 – Sir John Harington, English courtier, writer and inventor of flush toilet