This article presents lists of the literary events and publications in 1739.
January 16 – First performance of George Frideric Handel's oratorio Saul at the King's Theatre, Haymarket, London.
February 9 – The Scots Magazine is first issued.
February – George Whitefield first preaches in the open air, to miners at Kingswood, South Gloucestershire, England.
April – John Wesley first preaches in the open air, at Whitefield's invitation.
Henry Brooke's drama Gustavus Vasa is the first play banned under the Licensing Act of 1737.
The first Bible in Estonian, Piibli Ramat, translated by Anton thor Helle, is published.
Penelope Aubin – A Collection of Entertaining Histories and Novels
Henry Baker and James Miller (translation) – The Works of Molière, French and English
John Campbell – The Travels and Adventures of Edward Bevan, Esq., formerly a merchant in London
Elizabeth Carter
Examination of Mr. Pope's Essay on Man (translation of De Crousaz's Examen de l'essai de Monsieur Pope sur l'homme)
Sir Isaac Newton's Philosophy Explain'd for the Use of Ladies (translation of Algarotti's Newtonianismo per le donne)
Philip Doddridge – The Family Expositor
Henry Fielding (as Captain Hercules Vinegar) – The Champion (periodical)
Richard Glover – London
David Hume (anonymously) – A Treatise of Human Nature (issued late 1738 but dated this year)
William Law – The Grounds and Reasons of Christian Regeneration
John Mottley (as Elijah Jenkins) – Joe Miller's Jests; or, the Wits Vade-Mecum
Robert Nugent (attrib.) – An Epistle to Sir Robert Walpole
John Oldmixon – The History of England during the Reigns of Henry VIII, Edward VI, Queen Mary, Queen Elizabeth
Laetitia Pilkington – The Statues
Samuel Richardson – Aesop's Fables
Elizabeth Rowe – Miscellaneous Works
Thomas Sheridan – The Satires of Juvenal Translated
Joseph Trapp – The Nature, Folly, Sin, and Danger, of Being Righteous Over-much (against George Whitefield)
Voltaire
De la Gloire, ou entretien avec un Chinois
Conseils a M. Helvetius
Isaac Watts – The World to Come
George Whitefield – A Continuation of the Reverend Mr. Whitefield's Journal
Paul Whitehead – Manners
Daniel Bellamy – Miscellanies in Prose and Verse
Henry Brooke – Gustavus Vasa
Henry Carey – Nancy (opera)
Thomas Cooke – The Mournful Nuptials (not acted)
David Mallet – Mustapha
James Miller – An Hospital for Fools
Edward Phillips – Britons, Strike Home
William Shirley – The Parricide
James Thomson – Edward and Eleonara
Moses Browne – Poems
Mary Collier – The Woman's Labour: an epistle to Mr Stephen Duck
Mikhail Lomonosov – Ode on the Taking of Khotin from the Turks
Robert Nugent
An Ode on Mr. Pulteney
An Ode, to His Royal Highness on His Birthday
Odes and Epistles
Jonathan Swift – Verses on the Death of Dr. Swift
John Wesley – Hymns and Sacred Poems
January – Twm o'r Nant, Welsh playwright and poet (died 1810)
August 31 – Johann Augustus Eberhard, German theologian and philosopher (died 1809)
November 20 – Jean-François de la Harpe, French critic (died 1803)
Unknown date – Hugh Kelly, Irish-born dramatist and poet (died 1777)
June 20 – Edmond Martène, French historian (born 1654)
July 25 – Johann Christoph Wolf, German Hebrew scholar and bibliographer (born 1683)
September 4 – George Lillo, English dramatist and actor (born 1691)
October 18 – António José da Silva, Brazilian dramatist (born 1705)
Probable year of death – Liu Zhi (劉智), Chinese Muslim scholar (born c. 1660)
1739 in literature Wikipedia (Text) CC BY-SA