1702 in literature
This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1702.
Events
- March 8 – Accession of Anne, Queen of Great Britain, upon the death of her brother-in-law William III.
- March 11 – The first regular English national newspaper, The Daily Courant, begins publication, in Fleet Street in the City of London. It covers only foreign news.
- October – Jonathan Swift returns to Ireland in the company of Esther Johnson.
- unknown dates
- *Ballet master John Weaver presents the burlesque Tavern Bilkers at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in London, the first English pantomime. It is not a success.
- *The first book set in the Romain du Roi Roman type, devised for use by the Imprimerie nationale in France: Médailles sur les principaux événements du règne de Louis le Grand, is printed.
- *Castle Howard in Yorkshire, England, is completed to the design of playwright John Vanbrugh and architect Nicholas Hawksmoor.
New books
Prose
- Louise de Bossigny, comtesse d'Auneuil – La Tiranie des fées détruite
- Thomas Brown, et al. – Letters From the Dead to the Living
- Edmund Calamy – An Abridgement of Mr Baxter's History of His Life and Times
- Daniel Defoe
- *An Enquiry into Occasional Conformity
- *The Mock-Mourners
- *A New Test of the Church of England's Loyalty
- *Reformation of Manners
- *The Shortest Way with the Dissenters
- *The Spanish Descent
- John Dennis – The Monument
- Laurence Echard – A General Ecclesiastical History
- George Farquhar – Love and Business
- Edmund Gibson – Synodus Anglicana
- Charles Gildon – A Comparison Between the Two Stages
- Examen Miscellaneum
- Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon – The History of the Rebellion and Civil Wars in England
- George Keith – The Standard of the Quakers Examined
- John Kersey – A New English Dictionary; or, a complete collection of the most proper and significant words, commonly used in the language
- Cotton Mather – Magnalia Christi Americana
- Matthew Prior – To a Young Gentleman in Love
- John Toland – Paradoxes of State
- Catherine Trotter Cockburn – ''A Defence of the Essay of Human Understanding''
Drama
- William Burnaby – The Modish Husband
- Susanna Centlivre –
- * The Beau's Duel
- * The Stolen Heiress
- Colley Cibber – She Would and She Would Not
- John Dennis – The Comical Gallant
- George Farquhar
- *The Inconstant
- *The Twin Rivals
- Charles Gildon – The Patriot
- Bevil Higgons – The Generous Conqueror
- Francis Manning – All for the Better
- John Oldmixon – The Governour of Cyprus
- Nicholas Rowe
- *The Fair Penitent
- *Tamerlane
- Sir Charles Sedley – The Tyrant King of Crete
- John Vanbrugh – ''The False Friend''
Poetry
- Matsuo Bashō – ''Oku no Hosomichi''
Births
- June 26 – Philip Doddridge, English religious and writer and hymnist
- Unknown date – Margareta Momma, Swedish journalist and publisher
Deaths
- January 1 – Samuel Green, American printer
- January 17 – Roger Morrice, English journalist and diarist
- February 17 – Peder Syv, Danish philologist, folklorist and priest
- April 22 – François Charpentier, French archeologist and writer
- May 17 – Richard Sault, English mathematician, editor and translator
- May 27 – Dominique Bouhours, French literary critic
- November – John Pomfret, English poet