1604 in literature

Events

• January 1 – The King's Men perform Shakespeare's comedy A Midsummer Night's Dream at the English Court.
• c. April – The King's Men perform Ben Jonson's tragedy Sejanus His Fall at the Globe Theatre, where it is not popular. The title role is probably played by Richard Burbage, and Shakespeare also appears.
• July – Miguel de Cervantes sells the rights of the first part of his satirical novel on the theme of chivalry, Don Quixote, to Madrid publisher-bookseller Francisco de Robles. In September license to publish is granted and in December the printing is finished for publication the following month.
• November 1 – The King's Men perform Shakespeare's tragedy Othello at Whitehall Palace with Burbage in the title role, the first recorded performance.
• November 4 – The King's Men perform Shakespeare's comedy The Merry Wives of Windsor at Whitehall Palace.
• December 26 – The King's Men perform Shakespeare's comedy Measure for Measure at Court.
• December 28 – The King's Men perform Shakespeare's The Comedy of Errors at Court.
• December – A report shows that the King's Men are performing a play on the politically sensitive Gowrie Conspiracy. It is suppressed and has not survived, but does not affect the company's general success.
• The first known performance of a Shakespeare play in translation, Romeo and Juliet, is performed at Nördlingen in Bavaria in an anonymous German version, Von Romeo undth Julitha.
• Construction takes place of the Red Bull Theatre at Clerkenwell in London.
• The last performances in England of the Beverley miracle plays are given.
• Isaac Casaubon becomes sub-librarian of the royal library in Paris.
• The Table Alphabeticall, the first known English alphabetical dictionary, is published.

  New books

Prose

• Bhattakalanka Deva – Karnataka Sabdanusasana
• Lancelot de Casteau – L'Ouverture de cuisine
• Thomas Dekker
• *News from Gravesend
• *The Meeting of Gallants at an Ordinary
• Elizabeth Grymeston – Miscellanea: prayers, meditations, memoratives
• King James I of England – A Counterblaste to Tobacco
• Agnolo Monosini – Floris Italicae lingue libri novem
• Samuel Rowlands – Looke to it; for Ile stabbe ye
• John Stow – Revised edition of Summarie of Englyshe Chronicles
• Simon Studion – Naometria
• Jacques Auguste de Thou – Historia sui temporis

  Drama

• William Alexander, 1st Earl of Stirling – The Monarchic Tragedies; includes Croesus and Darius, two closet dramas
• Samuel Daniel – Philotas; The Vision of the Twelve Goddesses
• Thomas Dekker and Thomas Middleton – The Honest Whore, Part 1
• Thomas Dekker and John Webster – Westward Ho
• Ben Jonson and Thomas Dekker – The Coronation Triumph
• Christopher Marlowe – Doctor Faustus
• John Marston – The Malcontent
• Thomas Middleton – Michaelmas Term
• William Shakespeare – Hamlet published

  Poetry

• Bernardo de Balbuena – La Grandeza Mexicana
• Nicholas Breton – The Passionate Shepherd
• Guru Arjan – Guru Granth Sahib
• Anthony Scoloker – Daiphantus, or the Passions of Love

  Births

• February 24 – Arcangela Tarabotti, born Elena Tarabotti, Venetian nun and feminist writer
• May 10 – Jean Mairet, French dramatist
• May 29 ' – Isaac Ambrose, English religious writer and diarist
• October 16 – Charles Coypeau d'Assoucy, French burlesque poet
• November 23 ' – Jasper Mayne, English translator and dramatist
• Unknown dates
• *Charles Cotin, French philosopher and poet
• *Nicholas French, Irish Catholic pamphleteer and bishop
• *Girolamo Graziani, Italian poet

  Deaths

• February 25 – Manuel da Costa, Portuguese historian
• March 4 – Fausto Paolo Sozzini, Italian theologian
• March 13 – Arnaud d'Ossat, French diplomat, cardinal and writer
• April 1 – Thomas Churchyard, English poet
• June 10 – Isabella Andreini, Paduan-born actress and writer
• June 24 – Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford English poet, playwright and courtier
• August 3 – Bernardino de Mendoza, Spanish military commander and historian
• September 10 – William Morgan, Welsh Bible translator
• October 8 – Janus Dousa, Dutch historian and poet
• November – Thomas Storer, English poet
• December 22 – Juan Jose Marti, Spanish novelist
• unknown date – Thomas North, English translator