1724 in literature
This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1724.
Events
- January – Andrew Michael Ramsay goes to Rome to tutor the two sons of James Francis Edward Stuart, Jacobite pretender to the British throne.
- August – Thomas Longman establishes the Longman publishing house in London.
- November 16 – An "autobiographical" Narrative of the life of notorious criminal Jack Sheppard, said to be by Daniel Defoe, goes on sale at Sheppard's execution at Tyburn.
New books
Prose
- Anonymous – A Narrative of All the Robberies, Escapes, &c. of John Sheppard
- Gilbert Burnet – Bishop Burnet's History of His Own Time, Vol. I
- Samuel Clarke – Sermons of Samuel Clarke
- Anthony Collins – Discourse of the Grounds and Reasons of the Christian Religion with An Apology for Free Debate and Liberty of Writing
- Mary Davys – The Reform'd Coquet
- Daniel Defoe
- *Roxana: The Fortunate Mistress
- *A New Voyage Round the World
- *A Tour thro' the Whole Island of Great Britain
- John Dennis – Vice and Luxury Publick Mischiefs
- Richard Fiddes
- *A General Treatise of Morality
- *The Life of Cardinal Wolsey
- Eliza Haywood
- *La Belle Assemblé
- *The Fatal Secret
- *Lasselia
- *The Masqueraders
- Thomas Hearne, ed. – Robert of Gloucester's Chronicle
- Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon – An Appendix to the History of the Grand Rebellion
- Captain Charles Johnson – A General History of the Pyrates
- William Law – Remarks Upon a Late Book
- John Oldmixon – The Critical History of England, Ecclesiastical and Civil
- Paul de Rapin – L'Histoire d'Angleterre
- Jonathan Swift
- *A Letter to the Shop-keepers... of Ireland
- *A Letter to Mr. Harding the Printer
- *Some Observations Upon a Paper Relating to Wood's Half-pence
- *A Letter to the Whole People of Ireland
- *A Letter to the Right Honourable the Lord Viscount Molesworth
- *Seasonable Advice
- Isaac Watts – ''Logic, or The Right Use of Reason in the Enquiry After Truth With a Variety of Rules to Guard Against Error in the Affairs of Religion and Human Life, as well as in the Sciences''
Drama
- Colley Cibber – Caesar in Egypt
- John Gay – The Captives
- Ludvig Holberg – Henrich og Pernille
- Robert Hurst – The Roman Maid
- George Jeffreys – Edwin
- Pierre de Marivaux – La Fausse Suivante
- William Phillips – Belisarius
- John Rich – ''The Necromancer; or, History of Dr. Faustus''
Poetry
- Matthew Concanen – Miscellaneous Poems
- Eliza Haywood – Poems on Several Occasions
- Allan Ramsay
- *The Ever Green: Being a collection of Scots Poems
- *Health
- Elizabeth Tollet – Poems on Several Occasions
- Voltaire – La Henriade
- Leonard Welsted – Epistles, Odes, &c.
- ''See also 1724 in poetry''
Births
- January 12 – Frances Brooke, English novelist and dramatist
- March 20 – Duncan Ban MacIntyre, Scottish Gaelic poet
- April 22 – Immanuel Kant German philosopher
- June 4 – William Gilpin, English writer, painter and originator of "picturesque"
- July 2 – Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock, German poet
- July 26 – Ji Yun, Chinese poet and scholar
- July 31 – Noël François de Wailly, French grammarian and lexicographer
- October 31 – Christopher Anstey, English writer and poet
- December 13 – Franz Aepinus, German natural philosopher
- Unknown dates
- *Samuel Derrick, Irish writer
- *Frances Sheridan, Irish novelist and dramatist
Deaths
- January 1 – Charles Gildon, English critic and dramatist
- January 15 – George Wheler, English travel writer
- February 5 – Mary Cowper, English diarist
- February 12 – Elkanah Settle, English poet and dramatist
- March 19 – Johann Christian Thomae, German historian and biographer
- July 11 – Delarivier Manley, writer, playwright and pamphleteer
- August 15 – Manko, Japanese poet
- October 6 – Charles Rivière Dufresny, French dramatist
- October 29 – William Wollaston, English philosophical writer
- November 29 – Laurence Braddon, English writer and politician
- November – Liam an Dúna Mac Cairteáin, Irish poet and soldier
- probable – Proinsias Ó Doibhlin, Irish poet and priest