This article presents lists of the literary events and publications in 1661.
Events
- August 24 â Samuel Pepys sees the new production of Hamlet by Sir William Davenant's troupe of actors, the Duke's Company, with the innovation of stage scenery. The Duke's Company have recently moved from the Salisbury Court Theatre to the theatre at Lincoln's Inn Fields, where they have been joined by Thomas Betterton; Pepys praises Betterton's Prince Hamlet as "beyond imagination."
- December 28 â Controversial author James Harrington is arrested on a charge of conspiracy, while working on his final publication, A System of Politics.
- Unknown dates
- The Book of Kells (c. 800) is presented to Trinity College Dublin.
- Bishop John Gauden claims authorship of Eikon Basilike (1649).
- Third edition of Izaak Walton's The Compleat Angler.
- The trend toward closet drama (often highly politicized), which distinguished the English Civil War and Interregnum periods, does not immediately end once the theatres re-open with the Restoration â as the publication of Hell's High Court of Justice (below) illustrates.
- Abraham Cowley's pamphlet The Advancement of Experimental Philosophy helps inspire the foundation of the Royal Society.
- The library of Frederick William, Elector of Brandenburg, is opened to the public at Cölln as the "Library of the Elector" (), foundation of the Berlin State Library.
- A legal deposit obligation is laid on publishers in Sweden.
- Francis Kirkman, in Westminster (London) operates an early form of lending library, based on a collection of his own works.
New books
Prose
Drama
- Anonymous ("J. D.") â Hell's High Court of Justice, or the Trial of the Three Politic Ghosts, viz. Oliver Cromwell, the King of Sweden, and Cardinal Mazarin (published)
- George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham (after Fletcher) â The Chances
- Pedro Calderón de la Barca â Las tres justicias en una
- George Cartwright â The Heroic Lover, or the Infanta of Spain (published)
- Thomas Corneille â Camma
- Abraham Cowley â The Cutter of Coleman Street
- Robert Davenport â The City Nightcap (published)
- Richard Flecknoe â Erminia, or the Fair and Virtuous Lady (published)
- John Fountain â The Rewards of Virtue (published)
- Thomas Fuller â Andronicus (published)
- Francis Kirkman â The Presbyterian Lash (published)
- Thomas Middleton â Hengist, King of Kent (published)
- Molière â Dom Garcie de Navarre, ou le Prince jaloux
- Roger Boyle, 1st Earl of Orrery â The Generall (written)
- William Rowley & Thomas Heywood (?) â The Thracian Wonder (published); previously misattributed to Webster, exact authorship still uncertain, probably written c.1600/10
- Samuel Tuke â The Adventures of Five Hours (published adaptation of Antonio Coello's Los empeños de seis horas, c. 1642)
- John Webster & William Rowley â A Cure for a Cuckold (published)
Births
- January 30 â Charles Rollin, French historian and educator (died 1741)
- April 16 â Charles Montagu, 1st Earl of Halifax, English poet and statesman (died 1715)
- April â Anne Finch, Countess of Winchilsea, English poet (died 1720)
- May 25 â Claude Buffier, French philosopher, historian and educationalist (died 1737)
- November 1 â Florent Carton Dancourt, French dramatist and actor (died 1725)
- November 8 â Elizabeth Burnet, English religious writer and philanthropist (died 1709)
- November 15 â Christoph von Graffenried, Swiss colonist and writer (died 1743)
- Unknown dates
- William Cleland, Scottish poet and soldier (died 1689)
- Thomas Knaggs, English preacher and publisher of sermons (died 1724)
Deaths
References