1686 in literature

The year 1686 in literature involved some significant events.

Events

• John Dryden converts to Roman Catholicism.

New books

• John Bunyan - A Book for Boys and Girls, or, Country Rhymes for Children
• Gottfried Leibniz - Brevis Demonstratio Erroris Memorabilis Cartesii et Aliorum Circa Legem Naturae ("A Brief Demonstration of the Memorable Error of Descartes and Others About the Law of Nature")
  • Discours de Métaphysique
• Bernard de Fontenelle - Entrétiens sur la Pluralité des Mondes
  • L'Histoire des Oracles
• Ihara Saikaku - Twenty Cases of Unfilial Children
  • The Woman Who Spent Her Life in Love
• Thomas Sydenham - Schedula monitoria de novae febris ingressu

New drama

• Aphra Behn & John Blow - The Lucky Chance
• Thomas d'Urfey - The Banditti, or a Lady's Distress
• Thomas Jevon - The Devil of a Wife

Poetry

• Sarah Fyge (Egerton) - The Female Advocate
• Anne Killigrew - Poems (posthumously published)

Births

• January 17 - Archibald Bower, historian (died 1766)
• August 12 - John Balguy, philosopher (died 1748)
• September 5 - Antoine Touron, historian and biographer (died 1775)
• date unknown - Alban Thomas, librarian and antiquarian (died 1771)

Deaths

• January 31 - Jean Mairet, dramatist (born 1604)
• February 25 - Abraham Calovius, Lutheran theologian (born 1612)
• June 23 - Sir William Coventry, statesman and author (born c.1628)
• August 13 - Louis Maimbourg, historian (born 1610)
• November 28 - Nicolas Letourneux, ascetic writer (born 1640)
• December 6 - Nicola Avancini, ascetic writer (born 1612)
• date unknown - John Playford, publisher (born 1623)