1587 in literature

Events

• April 14 – A clandestine Roman Catholic printing press is discovered in a cave on the Little Orme on the North Wales coast, where it has been used by the recusant Robert Pugh and his chaplain, Father William Davies, to print the first part of Y Drych Cristianogawl, the first book to be printed in Wales. Attributed to G. R. of Milan, the book is given a false imprint of "Rouen, 1585".
• Autumn – Poet Torquato Tasso travels to Rome to stay with his friend Cardinal Scipione Gonzaga, Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem.
• October 31 – Leiden University Library opens its doors after its foundation in 1575.
• Late – The first part of Christopher Marlowe's drama Tamburlaine the Great is performed in London by the Admiral's Men, with Edward Alleyn in the lead. Marlowe is known to be engaged in confidential government work.
• The Rose Theatre is built by Philip Henslowe in Southwark on the south bank of the River Thames.
• The chapbook Historia von D. Johann Fausten, printed by Johann Spies in Frankfurt, is the first published version of the Faust story.

  New books

Prose

• George Gifford – A discourse of the subtill practises of deuilles by witches and sorcerers
• Raphael Holinshed – Holinshed's Chronicles, 2nd edition, revised
• John Penry – The Æquity of an Humble Supplication
• William Rankins – A Mirror of Monsters

  Drama

• Thomas Kyd – The Spanish Tragedy
• Christopher Marlowe
• *Tamburlaine
• * – Dido, Queen of Carthage

  Poetry

• Cristóbal de Virués – El Monserrate

  Births

• February 24 – Matthias Faber, German religious writer
• June 21 – Kaspar von Barth, German philologist
• October 17 – Nathan Field, English dramatist
• November 17 – Joost van den Vondel, Dutch dramatist
• November 18 – Lady Mary Wroth, English poet and dramatist
• Unknown dates
• *Michael Alford, English Jesuit writer
• *Francesco Angeloni, Italian historian
• *Francis Kynaston, English poet

  Deaths

• March 15 – Kaspar Olevianus, German Protestant theologian
• April 18 – John Foxe, martyrologist
• September 19 – Pamelius, Belgian theologian
• November – Mother and daughter:
• *Madeleine Des Roches, French poet and author
• *Catherine Des Roches, French poet and author
• Unknown date
• *Dudley Fenner, English theologian

  In literature

• Friedrich Schiller's drama Maria Stuart depicts the last days of Mary, Queen of Scots