1768 in literature

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This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1768.

Events

March – John Wilkes, returning from exile in France, is elected to the Parliament of Great Britain.
May 10 – John Wilkes is imprisoned for attacking King George III of Great Britain in print.
July 28 – Thomas Gray succeeds Lawrence Brockett as Regis Professor of History at the University of Cambridge.^[1]
December 12 – Walter Butler, 16th Earl of Ormonde, father of Lady Eleanor Butler, inherits Kilkenny Castle in Ireland. This brings about the first meeting of the Ladies of Llangollen.^[2]
unknown dates
- John Murray (publisher) is established in London.
- The Theatre Royal, Bath (Old Orchard Street Theatre) and Theatre Royal, Norwich assume these titles on being granted Royal Patents, making them officially England's only legal provincial theaters.^[3]^[4]
- The Leeds Library is founded, becoming the oldest surviving subscription library of its type in Britain.^[5]

John Cleland – The Woman of Honour (attributed)
Alexander Dow (translated) – Tales Translated from the Persian of Inatulla of Delhi
Voltaire – La Princesse de Babylone
José Francisco de Isla – Historia del famoso predicador fray Gerundio de Campazas, alias Zotes (second part)
Anonymous – Fumoto no iro (Japanese: 麓の色, romanized: Sex in the Foothills)

Isaac Bickerstaffe
- Lionel and Clarissa
- The Hypocrite
- The Padlock
Alexander Dow – Zingis
Samuel Foote – The Devil on Two Sticks
Oliver Goldsmith – The Good-Natur'd Man
John Hoole – Cyrus
Hugh Kelly – False Delicacy
Arthur Murphy – Zenobia
Michel-Jean Sedaine – La gageure imprévue
Heinrich Wilhelm von Gerstenberg – Ugolino
Horace Walpole – The Mysterious Mother (published)
William Shakespeare, ed. Edward Capell – Mr. William Shakespeare His Comedies, Histories and Tragedies

Abraham Booth – The Reign of Grace
James Boswell – An Account of Corsica
William Gilpin – An Essay upon Prints, containing remarks upon the principles of picturesque beauty
Oliver Goldsmith – The Present State of the British Empire in Europe, America, Africa, and Asia
Richard Gough – Anecdotes of British Topography
Joseph Priestley – An Essay on the First Principles of Government
Tobias Smollett – The Present State of all Nations
Laurence Sterne – A Sentimental Journey through France and Italy
Gilbert Stuart – An Historical Dissertation Concerning the Antiquity of the English Constitution
Emanuel Swedenborg – Deliciae Sapientiae de Amore Conjugiali
Abraham Tucker (as Edward Search) – The Light of Nature Pursued
Horace Walpole – Historic Doubts on the Life and Reign of King Richard III
Arthur Young – A Six Weeks' Tour Through the Southern Counties of England and Wales

March 22 – Melesina Trench, Irish-born writer and socialite (died 1827)
September 4 – François-René de Chateaubriand, French writer and diplomat (died 1848
November 18 – Zacharias Werner, German religious poet (died 1823)
November 21 – Friedrich Schleiermacher, German theologian (died 1834)

March 1 – Hermann Samuel Reimarus, German philosopher (born 1694)
March 18 – Laurence Sterne, Irish-born novelist and cleric (born 1713)
April 9 – Sarah Fielding, English novelist and children's author (born 1710)
May 30 – Eggert Ólafsson, Icelandic writer and linguist (drowned, born 1726)
July 4 – Willem van Haren, Dutch poet (born 1710)
August 20 – Joseph Spence, English memoirist and professor of poetry (born 1699)
November 25 – Alexander Russell, Scottish physician and naturalist (born c. 1715)
December 20 – Carlo Innocenzio Maria Frugoni, Italian poet (born 1692)