1846 in literature
This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1846.
Events
- January 3 – The American author Edgar Allan Poe issues the final edition of the Broadway Journal, a journal he owned for just a few months.
- January 15 – Fyodor Dostoevsky's first original novel, Poor Folk, is published in the St. Petersburg Collection.
- January 21 – The Daily News, edited by Charles Dickens, first appears in London. After 17 issues Dickens hands over as editor to his friend John Forster. It continues until 1930.
- April
- *Hans Christian Andersen's Fairy Tales are first translated into English, beginning with "The Little Mermaid" in Bentley's Miscellany.
- *Poe's essay "The Philosophy of Composition" is published in Graham's Magazine.
- c. May 22 – The Brontë sisters' first published work, the collection Poems by Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell, appears in London. It sells only two copies in the first year.
- June 27 – Charlotte Brontë completes the manuscript of her novel The Professor. It is offered to several publishers during the year but rejected.
- August 15 – The Scott Monument to Sir Walter Scott in Edinburgh is inaugurated.
- September 12 – The poets Elizabeth Barrett and Robert Browning marry privately in St Marylebone Parish Church, London, and depart for the continent a week later.
- October 1 – Serial publication of Charles Dickens's Dombey and Son begins.
- November 21 – The String of Pearls: a Romance, probably written by James Malcolm Rymer, begins serialization in Britain. This is the first literary appearance of Sweeney Todd.
- unknown dates
- *Mary Howitt's Wonderful Stories for Children is the first English translation of works by Hans Christian Andersen to be published in book format.
- *Isaac D. Baker and Charles Scribner form the New York City publisher Baker & Scribner, predecessor of Charles Scribner's Sons.
New books
Fiction
- Edward Bulwer-Lytton – The Children of the Night
- James Fenimore Cooper – The Redskins
- Charles Dickens – The Battle of Life
- Fyodor Dostoevsky
- * The Double: A Petersburg Poem
- * Poor Folk
- Alexandre Dumas, père
- *Le Chevalier de Maison-Rouge
- *The Count of Monte Cristo
- Thomas Dunn English – MDCCCXLII, or The Power of the "S. F"
- Dmitry Grigorovich – The Village
- Nathaniel Hawthorne – Mosses from an Old Manse
- Douglas Jerrold
- * The Chronicles of Clovernook
- * Mrs Caudle's Curtain Lectures
- Mór Jókai – Weekdays
- James Sheridan Knowles – Fortescue
- Frederick Marryat – The Privateersman
- Herman Melville – Typee
- George Sand – ''La Mare au Diable''
Children
- Anne Knight – School-Room Lyrics
- Hannah and Mary Townsend – ''The Anti-Slavery Alphabet''
Drama
- Paul Bocage – Échec et mat
- Carolina Coronado – El cuadro de la esperanza
- Gustav Freytag – Die Valentine
- Eugène Marin Labiche and Auguste Lefranc – Frisette
- George William Lovell
- * Look Before You Leap
- * The Wife's Secret
- Martins Pena – first performances
- *A Barriga do Meu Tio
- *Os Ciúmes de um Pedestre, ou O Terrível Capitão do Mato
- *
- *Os Meirinhos
- *Um Segredo de Estado
- *O Usurário
- Joseph Isidore Samson – ''La Famille poisson''
Poetry
- Gottfried Keller – Gedichte
- Edward Lear – Book of Nonsense
- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow – ''The Belfry of Bruges''
Non-fiction
- Selim Aga – Incidents Connected with the Life of Selim Aga, A Native of Central Africa
- Mary Anne Atwood – Early Magnetism in its Higher Relations to Humanity
- Curtis H. Cavender – Catalogue of Works in Refutation of Methodism
- Charles Dickens – Pictures from Italy
- F. W. Fairholt – Costume in England
- George Grote – A History of Greece
- George W. Johnson – A Dictionary of Gardening
- Søren Kierkegaard – Concluding Unscientific Postscript to Philosophical Fragments
- David Strauss – The Life of Jesus, Critically Examined, translated by George Eliot from Das Leben Jesu, kritisch bearbeitet
- Theodor Waitz – Grundlegung der Psychologie
- William Whewell – ''Elements of Morality''
Births
- March 17 – Kate Greenaway, English book illustrator and writer
- March 20 – Rebecca Richardson Joslin, American non-fiction writer
- March 25 – Helen Zimmern, German-born English writer and translator
- April 4 – Comte de Lautreamont, Uruguayan-born French poet and writer
- April 24 – Marcus Clarke, Australian novelist and poet
- May 5 – Henryk Sienkiewicz, Polish novelist
- May 25 – Naim Frashëri, Albanian poet
- June 3 – Estelle Mendell Amory, American educator and author
- June 30 – Frances Margaret Milne, Irish-born American author and librarian
- July 5 – Christian Reid, American author
- August 2 – Lucy Clifford, English novelist, dramatist and screenwriter
- August 5
- *Louise Manning Hodgkins, American educator, author, and editor
- *Alvilde Prydz, Norwegian novelist
- September 3 – Emma Shaw Colcleugh, American author
- October 1 – John Cadvan Davies, Welsh poet and Wesleyan Methodist minister
- October 21 – Edmondo De Amicis, Italian novelist, journalist, poet and short-story writer
- unknown date – Mary Foot Seymour, American businesswoman and writer
Deaths
- January 6 – Lewis Goldsmith, Anglo-French journalist
- February 9 – Henry Gally Knight, English writer and traveler
- March 10 – Harriette Wilson, English memoirist
- June 24 – Jan Frans Willems, Flemish poet and political activist
- July 12 – Charlotte Elizabeth Tonna, English novelist
- September 4 – Victor-Joseph Étienne de Jouy, French dramatist
- November 23 – George Darley, Irish poet, novelist, and critic
- December 13 – Pasquale Galluppi, Italian philosopher
Awards
- Chancellor's Gold Medal – Edward Henry Bickersteth
- Newdigate Prize – G. O. Morgan