1750 in literature

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This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1750.

Events

March – The Rambler is founded by Edward Cave; it lasts for 208 issues, and is mostly written by Samuel Johnson.^[1]
March 5 – Shakespeare's Richard II (in Colley Cibber's version) is presented at their theatre on Nassau Street (Manhattan) by Walter Murray and Thomas Kean,^[2] the earliest known significant professional performance of Shakespeare in North America.
unknown dates
- Weekly meetings for contributors to the Encyclopédie begin, at the salon of Baron d'Holbach.
- Jean-Jacques Rousseau wins the prize of the Academy of Dijon for his Discourse on the Arts and Sciences.
- London theatres wage "the Romeo and Juliet war" – competing productions appear with David Garrick and Anne Bellamy at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane and with Spranger Barry and Susannah Cibber at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden.
- Old Orchard Street Theatre opens in Bath (England) under the management of John Palmer, with a performance of Shakespeare's Henry IV, Part 2.^[3]
- Carlo Goldoni commits himself to writing a comedy for each week of the 1750–1751 seasons at Gerolamo Medebach's Teatro San Angelo in Venice – 16 plays.^[4]
After taking an M.D. at Aberdeen, Tobias Smollett travels in France, collecting material for The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle.

Anonymous
- The Adventures of Mr. Loveill, interspers'd with many real amours of the modern polite world
- The Nominal Husband, or, Distress'd Innocence
- Revived Fugitive: a novel, translated from the French
Henry Brooke – A New Collection of Fairy Tales
John Cleland – Fanny Hill (official and expurgated)
Sarah Fielding (attributed) – The History of Charlotte Summers
Edward Kimber – The Life and Adventures of Joe Thompson
Charlotte Lennox – The Life of Harriot Stuart
Robert Paltock – The Life and Adventures of Peter Wilkins
Sarah Scott – The History of Cornelia

John Barrow – Navigatio Britannica
William Blackstone – An Essay on Collateral Consanguinity
Samuel Bownas – A Description of the Qualifications Necessary to a Gospel Minister
John Campbell – The Present State of Europe
Zachary Grey – A Free and Familiar Letter to William Warburton
Eliza Haywood – A Present for Women Addicted to Drinking (on the Gin crisis)
Francis Hutcheson – Reflections Upon Laughter (philosophy of humor)
Jean-Jacques Rousseau – Discourse on the Arts and Sciences^[5]
George Savile, 1st Marquess of Halifax (died 1695), edited by Alexander Pope – A Character of King Charles the Second: and political, moral and miscellaneous thoughts and reflections
Laurence Sterne – The Abuses of Conscience
Madeleine de Puisieux – La Femme n’est pas inférieure à l'homme (Woman is not inferior to man)

January 7 – Robert Anderson, Scottish critic (died 1803)
June 13 – James Burney, English rear-admiral and naval writer (died 1821)
September 5 – Robert Fergusson, Scottish poet writing in Braid Scots (died 1774)
October 21 – Juraj Fándly, Slovak non-fiction writer, entomologist and priest (died 1811)
October 31 – Leonor de Almeida Portugal, 4th Marquise of Alorna, Portuguese noblewoman, painter, and poet (died 1839)^[6]
unknown date – Henrietta Maria Bowdler, English author and expurgator (died 1830)

^ Thomas Lockwood; Ronald Paulson (31 October 2013). Henry Fielding: The Critical Heritage. Routledge. p. 13. ISBN 978-1-136-17124-6.
^ Kenrick, John. "Theatre in NYC: A Brief History I". Musicals101. Retrieved 2015-10-16.
^ "Walking with the greats". MQ magazine. July 2004. Retrieved 2011-02-14.
^ Holme, Timothy (1976). A Servant of Many Masters: The Life and Times of Carlo Goldoni. London: Jupiter. ISBN 0-904041-61-1.
^ "Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712—1778)". Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Retrieved 23 March 2019.
^ Avila e de Bolama, Antonio José de Avila (1916). A marqueza d'Alorna; algumas noticias authenticas para a historia da muito illustre e eminente escriptora que os poetas seus contemporaneos denominaram Alcipe. Lisboa Impr. de M.L. Torres. p. 52. Retrieved 24 March 2019.
^ John Lauris Blake (1840). A General Biographical Dictionary... James Kay, Jun. & Bro. p. 1019.