1739 in literature

This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1739.

Events

 * January 16 – George Frideric Handel's oratorio Saul is first performed at the King's Theatre, Haymarket, London.
 * February 9 – The Scots Magazine first appears.
 * February 17 – George Whitefield first preaches in the open air, to miners at Kingswood, South Gloucestershire, England.
 * March 16 – Henry Brooke's drama Gustavus Vasa becomes the first play banned under the Licensing Act 1737.
 * April – John Wesley first preaches in the open air, at Whitefield's invitation.
 * November – The Champion (periodical) is launched, with Henry Fielding (under the name Captain Hercules Vinegar) as editor.
 * unknown date – The first Bible in the Estonian language, Piibli Ramat, translated by Anton thor Helle, is published.

Prose

 * Penelope Aubin – A Collection of Entertaining Histories and Novels
 * 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
 * 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 (attributed) – 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 Singer 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

Drama

 * Daniel Bellamy – Miscellanies in Prose and Verse
 * Henry Brooke – Gustavus Vasa
 * Anthony Brown – The Fatal Retirement
 * 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 Eleonora

Poetry

 * 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

Births

 * 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 dates
 * Hugh Kelly, Irish-born dramatist and poet (died 1777)
 * Sophronius of Vratsa, Bulgarian writer and clergyman, early figure in the Bulgarian National Revival (died 1813)

Deaths

 * 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 – Liu Zhi (劉智), Chinese Muslim scholar (born c. 1660)