1799 in literature

This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1799.

Events

Premières of the second and third parts of Friedrich Schiller's dramatic trilogy Wallenstein are performed at the Weimarer Hoftheater under Johann Wolfgang von Goethe:
*January 30 – Die Piccolomini.
*April 20 – Wallensteins Tod as Wallenstein.
April 13 – The father of Charles and Mary Lamb dies; Charles becomes his sister's guardian.
May 8 – The Religious Tract Society is established as an evangelical publisher in Paternoster Row, London; it continues as The Lutterworth Press into the 21st century.
December 20 – William Wordsworth and his sister Dorothy first take up residence at Dove Cottage, Grasmere. William completes the first version of The Prelude during the year.
unknown dates
*A new edition of Edward Young's Night Thoughts is illustrated by Thomas Stothard.
*The Monthly Magazine and American Review starts publication in the United States, edited by Charles Brockden Brown.

January 31 – Rodolphe Töpffer, Swiss teacher, author, and artist
February 4
*Almeida Garrett, Portuguese writer
* Thomas Kibble Hervey, Scottish-born poet and critic
March – Dorothea Tieck, German translator
March 12 – Mary Howitt, English writer, poet and translator
March 13 – Maria Dorothea Dunckel, Swedish poet, translator and dramatist
March 20 – Karl August Nicander, Swedish poet
April 17 – Eliza Acton, English poet and cookery writer
May 13 – Catherine Gore, English author
May 20 – Honoré de Balzac, French novelist
May 23 – Thomas Hood, English poet
June 6 – Aleksandr Pushkin, Russian dramatist and poet
October 9 – Louisa Stuart Costello Irish writer on travel and history
November 29 – Amos Bronson Alcott, American writer, philosopher, and reformer
December 30 – John Moultrie, English poet and hymnist
unknown date – Rallou Karatza, Greek Wallachian translator and theatrical promoter