1550 in literature

This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1550.

Events

 * June – Robert Estienne leaves Paris for Geneva, where he sets up a printing press.
 * July 17 – King Edward VI of England gives Humphrey Powell a grant to start printing in Ireland.
 * unknown dates
 * The first book in Slovene, Catechismus, is written by Protestant reformer Primož Trubar and printed in Schwäbisch Hall, Holy Roman Empire, followed by his Abecedarium.
 * Nostradamus' first almanac is printed.
 * The Chinese shenmo fantasy novel Fengshen Yanyi is first published in book form.

Prose

 * Leandro Alberti – Istoria di Bologna
 * Martin Bucer – De regno Christi
 * Thomas Cranmer – Defence of the True and Catholic Doctrine of the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ
 * Doddayya – Chandraprabha Purana
 * Louis Maigret – Traité de la Grammaire française (the first grammatical description of French)
 * Ramamatya – Svaramelakalanidhi (treatise on music)
 * Richard Sherry – A Treatise of Schemes and Tropes
 * Primož Trubar
 * Catechismus
 * Abecedarium
 * The Facetious Nights of Straparola (the first European storybook of fairy tales)
 * Giorgio Vasari – Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects
 * Rosary of the Philosophers

Drama

 * Thomas Naogeorgus – Agricultura sacra
 * Hans Sachs
 * Der fahrende Schüler im Paradies
 * Das Wildbad

Poetry

 * See 1550 in poetry

Births

 * December 22 – Cesare Cremonini, Italian philosopher (died 1631)
 * unknown dates
 * Wacker von Wackenfels, German diplomat, scholar and author (died 1619)
 * Zang Maoxun, Chinese playwright (died 1620)
 * Probable year of birth – Philip Henslowe, Elizabethan theatrical entrepreneur and impresario (died 1616)

Deaths

 * February – Marcantonio Flaminio, Latin-language poet (born c. 1498)
 * July 9 (probable date) – Jacopo Bonfadio, Italian historian, executed for sodomy (born c. 1508)
 * December 8 – Gian Giorgio Trissino, Italian poet, dramatist and grammarian (born 1478)
 * unknown date
 * Eguinaire Baron, French legal writer (born 1495)
 * William Lamb alias Paniter, Scottish writer, cleric and lawyer (born c. 1493)