Editing 1608 in literature

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{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2012}}
{{Year nav topic5|1608|literature}}
{{Use British English|date=July 2020}} 
This article contains information about the literary events and publications of '''1608'''.

==Events==
*[[January 10]] – [[Ben Jonson]]'s ''[[The Masque of Beauty]]'' is performed by [[Anne of Denmark|Queen Anne]] and her retinue at the [[Banqueting House, Whitehall]], a sequel to ''[[The Masque of Blackness]]''.<ref>{{cite book |editor1=Logan, Terence P. |editor2=Smith, Denzell S. |title=The New Intellectuals: A Survey and Bibliography of Recent Studies in English Renaissance Drama |location=Lincoln, NE |publisher=University of Nebraska Press |year=1977 |page=78}}</ref>
*[[February 9]] – Another masque by Jonson, ''[[The Hue and Cry After Cupid]]'', is performed at the Banqueting House, with sets designed by [[Inigo Jones]].
*[[March 31]] – ''[[Hamlet]]'' is played aboard the [[Honourable East India Company|East India Company]] ship ''Red Dragon'', commanded by Capt. [[William Keeling]].
*April – Performances of [[George Chapman]]'s play ''[[The Conspiracy and Tragedy of Charles, Duke of Byron]]'' by the [[Children of the Chapel]] at the [[Blackfriars Theatre]] in London are suppressed after the French Ambassador complains to [[James VI & I|King James]].<ref name="Cassell's Chronology">{{cite book |last=Williams |first=Hywel |title=Cassell's Chronology of World History |url=https://archive.org/details/cassellschronolo0000will |url-access=registration |location=London |publisher=Weidenfeld & Nicolson |year=2005 |isbn=0-304-35730-8 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/cassellschronolo0000will/page/238 238–243]}}</ref> After June the play is published with the offensive passages suppressed.
*May–October – [[Thomas Coryat]] makes a walking tour of continental Europe.<ref>''[[Coryat's Crudities]]: Hastily gobled up in Five Moneth's Travels'' (1611).</ref>
*[[June 12]]–[[August 19]] – [[Juan Ruiz de Alarcón]] returns to Mexico from Spain, to take up an academic post.
*[[June 19]] – [[Thomas Overbury]] is knighted.
*August – [[Richard Burbage]] with fellow members of the [[King's Men (playing company)]], including Shakespeare, take direct control of the indoor [[Blackfriars Theatre]] in London as a winter playhouse, also taking over the plays and playwrights previously presented there by the [[Children of the Chapel]].
*''unknown dates''
**[[Henry Ainsworth]] publishes a response to [[Richard Bernard]]'s ''The Separatist Schisme''.<ref>{{cite book|author=Walter H. Burgess|title=John Robinson, Pastor of the Pilgrim Fathers: A Study of His Life and Times|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Qg1MAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA112|date=23 February 2009|publisher=Wipf and Stock Publishers|isbn=978-1-60608-513-4|pages=112}}</ref>
**Father Francisco Blancas de San Jose establishes a printing press at [[Abucay Church]] in the [[Philippines]] to produce books in the [[Spanish language|Spanish]] and [[Tagalog language]]s; [[Tomas Pinpin]] joins the staff the following year.<ref>{{cite book|author=Gregorio F. Zaide|title=Philippine History for Catholic High Schools|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jg3LXufShD0C|year=1947|publisher=Modern Book Company|page=144}}</ref>
**Scottish poet [[Arthur Johnston (poet)|Arthur Johnston]] goes to Italy to study medicine at Padua.<ref>{{cite book|author=Robert Crawford|title=Scotland's Books: A History of Scottish Literature|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7y5nDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA186|date=30 January 2009|publisher=Oxford University Press, USA|isbn=978-0-19-538623-3|pages=186}}</ref>
**The [[Morgan Bible]] is given by Cardinal [[Bernard Maciejowski]], Bishop of Cracow, to [[Abbas I (Shah of Persia)]].

==New books==
===Prose===
*George Abbot – ''A Brief Description of the Whole World''
*[[Robert Armin]] – ''A Nest of Ninnies''
*[[Thomas Dekker (poet)|Thomas Dekker]] 
**''The Dead Term''
**''The Bellman of London''
*[[Francesco Maria Guazzo]] – ''[[Compendium Maleficarum]]''
*[[Johannes Kepler]] – ''[[Somnium (novel)|Somnium]]'' (written; published posthumously in [[1634 in literature|1634]])
*[[Mathurin Régnier]] – ''Les Premieres d'Euvres ou Satyres de Regnier''
*[[Salomon Schweigger]] – ''Newe Reyßbeschreibung Teutschland Auss to Constantinople''
*"P. F." – ''The History of the Damnable Life and Deserved Death of Doctor John Faustus''

===Drama===
*[[Lording Barry]] – ''Ram Alley'' (published)
*[[George Chapman]] – ''[[The Conspiracy and Tragedy of Charles, Duke of Byron]]''
*[[John Day (dramatist)|John Day]] – ''Humour Out of Breath'' and ''Law Tricks'' (published)
*[[Lope de Vega]]
**''{{ill|El acero de Madrid|es}}'' ("The steel of Madrid")
**''La adúltera perdonada'' (''[[autos sacramentales]]'')
**''{{ill|Lo fingido verdadero|es}}'' ("What you Pretend Has Become Real")
**''{{ill|Los melindres de Belisa|es}}''
**''[[Peribáñez y el Comendador de Ocaña]]''
*[[John Fletcher (playwright)|John Fletcher]] – ''The Faithful Shepherdess'' (first performance)
*[[Thomas Heywood]] – ''The Rape of Lucrece'' (published)
*[[Ben Jonson]]
**''[[The Masque of Beauty]]'' (performed, and published with ''[[The Masque of Blackness]]'')
**''[[The Hue and Cry After Cupid]]'' (performed and published)
*Henry Machin and [[Gervase Markham]] – ''[[The Dumb Knight]]''
*''[[The Merry Devil of Edmonton]]'' (attributed to [[Thomas Dekker (writer)|Thomas Dekker]], [[Michael Drayton]], [[William Shakespeare]] and others; published; first performed by 1604)<ref>[[William Kozlenko|Kozlenko, William]], ed. Disputed Plays of William Shakespeare. Hawthorn Books, 1974.</ref>
*[[Thomas Middleton]]
**''The Family of Love'', ''[[A Mad World, My Masters]]'', and ''[[A Trick to Catch the Old One]]'' (published)
**''[[A Yorkshire Tragedy]]'' (attributed; published with attribution to "W. Shakspeare")
*John Sansbury – ''Periander''
*[[William Shakespeare]] – ''[[King Lear]]'' (published)

===Poetry===
*''See [[1608 in poetry]]''

==Births==
*[[February 6]] – [[António Vieira]], Portuguese Jesuit orator and writer (died [[1697 in literature|1697]])
*[[February 12]] – [[Daniello Bartoli]], Jesuit writer (died [[1685 in literature|1685]])
*[[June 19]] ''(bapt.)'' – [[Thomas Fuller]], English cleric and historian (died [[1661 in literature|1661]])
*June – [[Sir Richard Fanshawe, 1st Baronet|Richard Fanshawe]], English Royalist politician, diplomat, poet and translator (died [[1666 in literature|1666]])
*[[December 8]] – [[Vendela Skytte]], Swedish salonist and poet (died [[1629 in literature|1629]])
*[[December 9]] – [[John Milton]], English poet and author (died [[1674 in literature|1674]])
*''Unknown date'' – [[Antoine Le Maistre]], French lawyer, author and translator (died [[1658 in literature|1658]])

==Deaths==
*[[January 28]] – [[Enrique Henríquez]], Portuguese Jesuit theologian (born [[1536 in literature|1536]])
*[[February 16]] – [[Nicolas Rapin]], French translator, poet and satirist (born [[1535 in literature|1535]])
*[[February 26]]
**[[Thomas Craig (poet)|Thomas Craig]], Scottish poet (born c. 1538)
**[[John Still]], English bishop, once credited with writing ''[[Gammer Gurton's Needle]]'' (born c. 1543)
*[[March 29]] – [[Laurence Tomson]], English theologian (born [[1539 in literature|1539]])<ref>{{cite DNB|wstitle=Tomson, Laurence}}</ref>
*[[April 19]] – [[Thomas Sackville, 1st Earl of Dorset]], statesman and poet (born [[1536 in literature|1536]])<ref>{{DNB Cite|wstitle=Sackville, Thomas}}</ref>
*[[June 19]]
**[[Alberico Gentili]], Italian legal writer (born 1552)
**[[Johann Pistorius]] (the younger), German controversialist and historian (born [[1546 in literature|1546]])
*[[July 26]] – [[Pablo de Céspedes]], Spanish poet and artist (born [[1538 in literature|1538]])
*September – [[Mary Shakespeare]], English mother of Shakespeare (born c. 1540)
*[[October 19]]
**[[Martin Delrio]], Netherlandish-born Spanish theologian (born [[1551 in literature|1551]])
**[[Geoffrey Fenton]], English writer and politician (born c. 1539)
*''before December'' – [[George Bannatyne]], Scottish collector of Scottish poems (born [[1545 in literature|1545]])<ref>{{cite book|author=George Bannatyne|title=Memorials of George Bannatyne, 1545-1608|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5lQJAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA9|year=1829|publisher=Ballantyne|pages=9}}</ref>
*''Unknown date'' – [[Nicolas de Montreux]], French novelist, poet and dramatist (born c. 1561)
*''Probable year'' – [[Jean Vauquelin de la Fresnaye]], French poet (born [[1536 in literature|1536]])

==References==
{{reflist|30em}}

{{Year in literature article categories}}