1661 in literature

Events

• August 24 – Samuel Pepys sees the new production of Hamlet by Sir William Davenant's troupe of actors, the Duke's Company, with the innovation of stage scenery. The Duke's Company have recently moved from the Salisbury Court Theatre to the theatre at Lincoln's Inn Fields, where they have been joined by Thomas Betterton; Pepys praises Betterton's Prince Hamlet as "beyond imagination."
• December 28 – Controversial author James Harrington is arrested on a charge of conspiracy, while working on his final publication, A System of Politics.
• Unknown dates
• *The Book of Kells is presented to Trinity College, Dublin.
• *Bishop John Gauden claims authorship of Eikon Basilike.
• *Third edition of Izaak Walton's The Compleat Angler.
• *The trend toward closet drama, which distinguished the English Civil War and Interregnum periods, does not immediately end once the theatres re-open with the Restoration — as the publication of Hell's High Court of Justice illustrates.
• *Abraham Cowley's pamphlet The Advancement of Experimental Philosophy helps inspire the foundation of the Royal Society.
• *The library of Frederick William, Elector of Brandenburg, is opened to the public at Cölln as the "Library of the Elector", foundation of the Berlin State Library.
• *A legal deposit obligation is laid on publishers in Sweden.
• *Francis Kirkman, in Westminster operates an early form of lending library, based on a collection of his own works.

  New books

Prose

• Robert Boyle – The Sceptical Chymist
• Gauthier de Costes, seigneur de la Calprenède – Faramond
• Abraham Cowley – The Advancement of Experimental Philosophy
• Sir Robert Dudley – Dell'Arcano del Mare
• John Evelyn – Tyrannus, or The Mode
• Marchamont Nedham – A Short History of the English Rebellion
• Katarina Zrinska – Putni tovaruš

  Drama

• Anonymous – Hell's High Court of Justice, or the Trial of the Three Politic Ghosts, viz. Oliver Cromwell, the King of Sweden, and Cardinal Mazarin
• Pedro Calderon de la Barca – Las tres justicias en una
• George Cartwright – The Heroic Lover, or the Infanta of Spain
• Thomas Corneille – Camma
• Abraham Cowley – The Cutter of Coleman Street
• Robert Davenport – The City Nightcap
• Richard Flecknoe – Erminia, or the Fair and Virtuous Lady
• John Fountain – The Rewards of Virtue
• Thomas Fuller – Andronicus
• Francis Kirkman – The Presbyterian Lash
• Thomas Middleton – Hengist, King of Kent
• Molière – Dom Garcie de Navarre, ou le Prince jaloux
• William Rowley & Thomas Heywood – The Thracian Wonder ; previously misattributed to Webster, exact authorship still uncertain, probably written c.1600/10
• Samuel Tuke – The Adventures of Five Hours
• John Webster & William Rowley – A Cure for a Cuckold

  Births

• January 30 – Charles Rollin, French historian and educator
• April 16 – Charles Montagu, 1st Earl of Halifax, English poet and statesman
• April – Anne Finch, Countess of Winchilsea, English poet
• May 25 – Claude Buffier, French philosopher, historian and educationalist
• November 1 – Florent Carton Dancourt, French dramatist and actor
• November 8 – Elizabeth Burnet, English religious writer and philanthropist
• November 15 – Christoph von Graffenried, Swiss colonist and writer
• Unknown dates
• *William Cleland, Scottish poet and soldier
• *Thomas Knaggs, English preacher and publisher of sermons

  Deaths

• March 30 – François le Métel de Boisrobert, French poet
• June 13 – Richard Adams, English poet
• August 7 – Jin Shengtan, Chinese editor, writer and critic
• October 4 – Jacqueline Pascal, poet and dramatist, sister of Blaise Pascal
• November 29 – Bishop Brian Walton, English scholar responsible for Polyglot Bible
• December 29 – Antoine Girard de Saint-Amant, French poet
• Unknown date – Sarmad Kashani, Persian poet and mystic