1777 in literature

This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1777. Events February 8 – Thomas Chatterton's volume Poems, Supposed to Have Been Written at Bristol, by Thomas Rowley, and Others, in the Fifteenth Century is published anonymously and posthumously in London, edited by Thomas Tyrwhitt, who still at this time believes them to be genuine work by a medieval monk transcribed by Chatterton. March – Fanny Burney is introduced to Samuel Johnson by her father, Charles Burney. April 1 – Friedrich Maximilian Klinger's play Sturm und Drang is premièred by the Seyler theatrical company in Leipzig. It gives its name to the Sturm und Drang movement in German literature. April 12 – The poet and grammarian Robert Lowth is appointed Bishop of London. May 8 – The first performance of Richard Brinsley Sheridan's comedy of manners The School for Scandal takes place at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in London. October – James Boswell's essays first appear as a column called The Hypochondriak in The London Magazine. unknown date – Det Dramatiske Selskab is founded in Copenhagen (Denmark) as an acting academy. New books Fiction Frances Brooke – The Excursion Henry Mackenzie – Julia de Roubigne Samuel Jackson Pratt Charles and Charlotte (as Courtney Melmoth) Travels for the Heart Clara Reeve (anonymously) – The Champion of Virtue Lady Mary Walker Letters from the Duchesse de Crui Memoirs of the Marchioness de Louvoi