1612 in literature

This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1612.

Events

 * January 6 – Ben Jonson's masque Love Restored is performed.
 * 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 which involves his London landlord.
 * 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.
 * unknown dates
 * 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).
 * 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" (rather than "princes") "have persecuted me without a cause."

New books

 * 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

New drama

 * George Chapman – The Widow's Tears published
 * Robert Daborne – A Christian Turn'd Turk published
 * Nathan Field – A Woman is a Weathercock published
 * Ben Jonson – Love Restored (masque)
 * John Webster – The White Devil published

Poetry

 * Michael Drayton – Poly-Olbion
 * 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

Births

 * February 6 – Antoine Arnauld, French theologian and philosopher (died 1694)
 * February 7 – Thomas Killigrew, English dramatist (died 1683)
 * February 8 – Samuel Butler, English poet and satirist (died 1680)
 * 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)
 * unknown date – Edward King, English poet (died 1637)
 * probable – John Rushworth, English lawyer and historian (died 1690)

Deaths

 * February – John Gerard (John Gerarde), English botanist and author of herbal (born c. 1545)
 * March 16 – Thomas Holland, English theologian and Bible translator (born 1539)
 * April 11 – Emanuel van Meteren, Flemish historian (born 1535)
 * June 1 – Carlos Félix, 6-year-old son of Lope de Vega.
 * 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 24 – Johannes Lippius, German theologian, philosopher, composer, and music theorist (born 1585)
 * 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 flush toilet (born 1560)