This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1781.
Events
March 27 – George Crabbe writes to Edmund Burke, enclosing examples of his work. The outcome is the publication of Crabbe's poem The Library. August 5 – The Czech meteorologist and geographer Antonín Strnad completes an inventory of the contents of the Clementinum in Prague, which becomes a national library. unknown date – Rudolf Erich Raspe (anonymously) publishes "M-h-s-nsche Geschichten" ("M-h-s-n Stories") in the Berlin humor magazine Vade mecum für lustige Leute ("Handbook for Fun-loving People"), the first appearance of Baron Munchausen in fiction.
New books
Fiction Robert Bage – Mount Henneth Christoph Friedrich Bretzner – Belmont und Constanze William Combe – Letters of an Italian Nun and an English Gentleman Eugenio Espejo – La ciencia blancardinaPhilip L. Astuto (2003), Eugenio Espejo (1747–1795), Reformador ecuatoriano de la Ilustración. Casa de la Cultura Ecuatoriana. p. 82. . Benjamin Franklin – A Letter To A Royal Academy Charles Johnstone – The History of John Juniper Henry Mackenzie – Julia de Roubignei Nicolas Restif de la Bretonne – La Découverte Australe par un Homme-Volant Glocester Ridley – Melanpus Anna Seward – Monody on Major André
Children Mrs. Barbauld – Hymns in Prose for Children Joachim Heinrich Campe – Die Entdeckung von Amerika (Discovery of America)
Drama Miles Peter Andrews – Dissipation Frances Brooke – The Siege of Sinope Hannah Cowley – The World as it Goes Elizabeth Craven – The Miniature Picture John Delap – The Royal Suppliants Johann Wolfgang von Goethe – Iphigenia in Tauris (revised version) Thomas Holcroft – Duplicity Elizabeth Inchbald – Polygamy Robert Jephson – The Count of Narbonne John O'Keeffe – The Agreeable Surprise Samuel Jackson Pratt – The Fair Circassian Friedrich Schiller – The Robbers (Die Räuber, published) Richard Brinsley Sheridan The Critic (published) A Trip to Scarborough
Poetry
William Cowper – Anti-Thelyphthora George Crabbe – The Library Maria De Fleury – Poems, Occasioned by the Confinement and Acquittal of the Right Honourable Lord George Gordon, President of the Protestant Association Santa Rita Durão – Caramuru Anne Francis – A Poetical Translation of the Song of Solomon Philip Freneau – The British Prison-Ship William Hayley – The Triumphs of Temper George Keate – Works Samuel Jackson Pratt – Sympathy
Non-fiction Maria De Fleury – Unrighteous Abuse Detected and Chastised Mary Deverell – Sermons on the Following Subjects... Edward Gibbon – Volumes II and III of The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Henry Home – Loose Hints Upon Education Samuel Johnson The Beauties of Johnson Lives of the Most Eminent English Poets Immanuel Kant – Critique of Pure Reason John Moore – A View of Society and Manners in Italy John Newton – Cardiphonia John Nichols – Biographical Anecdotes of William Hogarth Magister Pianco (Hans Heinrich von Ecker und Eckhoffen) – Der Rosenkreutzer in seiner Blösse Jean-Jacques Rousseau – Essai sur l'origine des langues
Births January 26 – Ludwig Achim von Arnim, German poet and novelist (died 1831) January 30 – Adelbert von Chamisso, German poet and botanist (died 1838) February 26 – Peter Andresen Oelrichs, Heligoland-born lexicographer (died 1869) March 17 – Ebenezer Elliott, English poet (died 1849) May 14 – Friedrich Ludwig Georg von Raumer, German historian (died 1873) June 12 (probable) – Christian Isobel Johnstone, Scottish journalist and novelist (died 1857) November 3 – Sarah Elizabeth Utterson, English translator and short story writer (died 1851) November 6 – Lucy Aikin (Mary Godolphin), English historical writer (died 1864)Linda J. Turzynski, "Lucy Aikin." Dictionary of Literary Biography: British Children's Writers, 1800–1880. Detroit, MI: Gale Research Inc, 1996 November 29 – Andrés Bello, Venezuelan polymath (died 1865) December 6 – Charlotte von Ahlefeld, German novelist (died 1849) December 11 – David Brewster, Scottish scientist and writer (died 1868)
Deaths February 15 – Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, German philosopher and dramatist (born 1729) February 22 – Anna Magdalena Godiche, Danish book printer and publisher (born 1721) February 24 – Edward Capell, English Shakespeare scholar (born 1713) March 1 – Jean-Baptiste de La Curne de Sainte-Palaye, French historian, classicist and lexicographer (born 1697) March 17 – Johannes Ewald, Danish dramatist and poet (born 1743) May 8 – Richard Jago, English poet and cleric (born 1715) June 24 – Anna Miller, English poet and salon hostess (born 1741) September 11 – Johann August Ernesti, German theologian and philologist (born 1707) November 2 – José Francisco de Isla, Spanish satirist (born 1703) November 4 – Johann Nikolaus Götz, German poet (born 1721) December 7 – Judith Madan, English poet (born 1702)
References
External links 1781 Books at Goodreads