1612 in literature

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	Art; Archaeology; Architecture; Literature; Music; Philosophy; Science +...;

This article presents lists of the literary events and publications in 1612.

Events

January 6 – Ben Jonson's masque Love Restored is performed.^[1]
January 12 – The King's Men and Queen Anne's Men unite for the first of two English Court performances in January, with Thomas Heywood's The Silver Age
January 13 – The King's Men perform Heywood's The Rape of Lucrece.
February 2 – Queen Anne's Men return to court to play Greene's Tu Quoque.
May 11 – Shakespeare testifies in the Bellott v. Mountjoy lawsuit.
November 6 – Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales, eldest son and heir to King James I of England, dies of typhoid fever. His coterie of followers, which included literary figures like Ben Jonson and John Selden, are forced to seek other patrons.^[2]
Thomas Shelton publishes The History of the Valorous and Wittie Knight-Errant Don-Quixote of the Mancha, the first translation of Cervantes' novel Don Quixote (first part) into English (or any other language).
Death of Carlos Félix, the favourite son of Lope de Vega.^[3]
The Accademia della Crusca publishes the first dictionary of the Italian language.
"Printers Bible": Some copies of the King James Version of the Bible printed in England this year contain an erratum with Psalm 119:161 reading "Printers have persecuted me without a cause" rather than "Princes have persecuted me..."

Traiano Boccalini – Ragguagli di Parnasso
John Brinsley – Ludus literarius; or The Grammar Schoole
John Davies – Discoverie of the True Causes why Ireland was never entirely subdued
John Davies of Hereford – The Picture of a Happy Man
Edward Grimeston
- The Generall Historie of Spaine (translated from French)
- The General History of the Magnificent State of Venice
Thomas Heywood – An Apology for Actors
Antonius Magirus – Koock-boeck ofte Familieren kevken-boeck
William Strachey - The Historie of Travaile Into Virginia Britannia
Francisco de Quevedo – La cuna y la sepultura

Michael Drayton – Poly-Olbion^[4]
Luis de Góngora – Fábula de Polifemo y Galatea (Fable of Polyphemus and Galatea)
Expanded edition of The Passionate Pilgrim
George Wither – Elegy on the death of Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales

February 6 – Antoine Arnauld, French theologian and philosopher (died 1694)
February 7 – Thomas Killigrew, English dramatist (died 1683)
February 28 – John Pearson, English theologian and scholar (died 1686)
March 4 (bapt.) – Jan Vos, Dutch poet and dramatist (died 1667)
March 20 – Anne Bradstreet, née Dudley, English-born American poet (died 1672)
December 4 – Samuel Butler, English poet and satirist (died 1680)
Unknown date – Edward King, English poet (died 1637)
Probable year of birth – John Rushworth, English lawyer and historian (died 1690)

February – John Gerard (John Gerarde), English botanist and author of herbal (born c. 1545)
March 16 – Thomas Holland, English theologian and translator of the Bible (born 1539)
April 11 – Emanuel van Meteren, Flemish historian (born 1535)
July 29 – Jacques Bongars, French diplomat and scholar (born 1554)
August 4 – Hugh Broughton, English Biblical scholar (born 1549)
September – Giovanni de' Bardi, Italian music theorist and critic (born 1534)
September 27 – Piotr Skarga (Piotr Poweski), Polish hagiographer (born 1536)
October 7 – Giovanni Battista Guarini, Italian poet (born 1538)
November 20 – Sir John Harington, English courtier, writer and inventor of a flush toilet (born 1560)