1638 in literature

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This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1638.

• Schouwburg of Van Campen, Amsterdam's first public theatre (postponed from 26 December 1637). It is then performed annually in the city on New Year's Day
  until 1968.
• February 6 – Luminalia, a masque written by Sir William Davenant and designed by Inigo Jones, is staged at the English Court.
• March 27 – The King's Men perform Chapman's tragedy Bussy D'Ambois at the English Court.
• May – English poet
  Galileo.^[2]
• October 27 – The King's Men act Ben Jonson's satirical city comedy Volpone (1606) at the Blackfriars Theatre in London.
• unknown dates
  • An
    Persia
    .
  • The Peking Gazette, official newspaper of the Ming Government in Beijing, makes a switch in its production process from woodblock printing to wooden movable type printing.^[3]
  • Swiss-born engraver
    Matthäus Merian produces his illustrated view of London.^[4]

• Maximilien de Béthune, duc de Sully – Mémoires ou Sages et Royales Oeconomies d'estat
• Méric Casaubon – A Treatise of Use and Custom
• Johann Amos Comenius
  – Janua Linguarum Reserata, or a Seed-Plot of All Languages and Sciences
• Sir Kenelm Digby – A Conference With a Lady About a Choice of Religion
• Robert Fludd – Philosophia Moysaica
• Juan Rodriguez Freyle – El Carnero
• Francis Godwin, Bishop of Hereford (died 1633; as Domingo Gonsales) – The Man in the Moone, or the Discovrse of a Voyage thither, an early example of science fiction^[5]
• John Lilburne – A Work of the Beast
• second quarto
  )
• John Pell – An Idea of Mathematicks
• Francisco de Quevedo – De los remedios de cualquier fortuna
• Captain John Underhill
  – News from America, or a New and Experimental Discovery of New England
• John Wilkins – The Discovery of a World in the Moon

• The Antipodes
• Antonio Coello – El conde de Sex, o Dar la vida por su dama
• Pierre Corneille – Le Cid (first English translation)
• Abraham Cowley – Naufragium Joculare (in Latin)
• William Davenant
  • The Unfortunate Lovers
  • The Fair Favorite
  • Luminalia (masque)
  • Brittania Triumphans (masque)
• John Ford
  • The Lady's Trial licensed
  • The Fancies Chaste and Noble published
• Thomas Heywood – The Wise Woman of Hoxton published
• Henry Killigrew – The Conspiracy published
• John Kirke (?) or Wentworth Smith (?) – The Seven Champions of Christendom published
• Tirso de Molina – Las Quinas de Portugal
• Thomas Nabbes – The Bride
• Thomas Randolph – Amyntas, or the Impossible Dowry published
• William Rowley – A Shoemaker a Gentleman
  published
• Pierre du Ryer – Alcione
• James Shirley
  • The Royal Master performed and published
  • The Duke's Mistress published
• Sir John Suckling – The Goblins
• Lope de Vega – Porfiar hasta morir
• Juan Pérez de Montalbán
  • Los amantes de Teruel
  • Tomo II de comedias

• John Barclay – The Mirror of Minds (posthumous)
• Richard Braithwaite
  (alias "Corymbaeus") – Barnabee's Journal (In Latin and English versions)
• William Davenant – Madagascar, with other Poems
• Shackerley Marmion – A Funeral Sacrifice, to the Sacred Memory of his Thrice-Honored Father, Ben Jonson
• John Milton – Lycidas

• January 1 – Nicolas Steno (Niels Steenson), Danish scientist (died 1686)
• January 24 – Charles Sackville, 6th Earl of Dorset, English poet (died 1706)
• May 13 – Richard Simon, French Biblical commentator (died 1712)
• August 6 – Nicolas Malebranche, French philosopher (died 1715)
• October – Edmé Boursault, French dramatist and miscellanist (died 1701)
• probable – Hannah Allen, English Protestant writer (year of death unknown)^[6]

• January 27 – Gonzalo de Céspedes y Meneses, Spanish novelist (born c. 1585)
• April 19 – Jeremias Drexel, German Jesuit religious writer (born 1581)
• June 25 – Juan Pérez de Montalbán, Spanish dramatist, poet and novelist (born c. 1602)^[7]
• December 8 – Ivan Gundulić, Croatian Baroque poet (born 1589)
• c. December – John Day, English playwright and poet (born 1574)