1662 in literature

This article presents lists of the literary events and publications in 1662.

Events

• February 15 – Première of Sir William Davenant's The Law Against Lovers, the first Restoration adaptation of Shakespeare (an amalgam of Measure for Measure and Much Ado About Nothing), given by the Duke's Company at the new Duke's Theatre in Lincoln's Inn Fields, London.
• September 29 – Samuel Pepys sees the King's Company production of A Midsummer Night's Dream in London. In his Diary, he calls it "The most insipid, ridiculous play that ever I saw in my life."
• December 26 – Première of Molière's comedy The School for Wives (L'école des femmes) at the Théâtre du Palais-Royal (rue Saint-Honoré) in Paris.
• Two autos sacramentales by Pedro Calderón de la Barca, entitled Las órdenes militares and Mística y real Babilonia, are the subject of an inquiry by the Spanish Inquisition; the former is censured, its manuscript copies confiscated, and remains condemned until 1671.
• The Parliament of England passes the first Printing Act of the Restoration era, the Licensing of the Press Act, which restricts London printers to a total of 24, each with no more than three presses and three apprentices. Books printed abroad are banned. Roger L'Estrange is granted a warrant to seize seditious books or pamphlets.
• John Ogilby, Master of the Revels in Ireland, opens the first Theatre Royal, Dublin, in Smock Alley.

New books

• Book of Common Prayer (revised)
• Margaret Cavendish – Orations of Diverse Persons
• Cyrano de Bergerac (posthumous) – États et Empires du Soleil ("The States and Empires of the Sun")
• Franciscus van den Enden – Kort Verhael van Nieuw-Nederland (Brief Account of New Netherland)
• Thomas Fuller – The History of the Worthies of England
• John Heydon
  • The Harmony of the World
  • The English Physician's Guide
  • Theomagia, Part 1
• Huang Zongxi – Waiting for the Dawn
• Baruch Spinoza – On the Improvement of the Understanding

New drama

• Margaret Cavendish – Plays Written by the Thrice Noble, Illustrious and Excellent Princess, the Lady Marchioness of Newcastle (closet dramas)
• Aston Cockayne – The Tragedy of Ovid published
• Pierre Corneille – Sertorius
• Sir William Davenant – The Law Against Lovers
• William Heminges – The Jews' Tragedy published
• Robert Howard – The Committee
• Francis Kirkman (probable compiler) – The Wits, or Sport for Sport (collection of drolls)
• Thomas Middleton and John Webster – Anything for a Quiet Life published
• Molière – The School for Wives
• Ferdinando Parkhurst – Ignoramus (English translation of George Ruggle's Latin play)
• John Wilson – The Cheats

Poetry

• Joost van den Vondel – Joannes de Boetgezant
• Michael Wigglesworth – The Day of Doom, or A Poetical Description of the Great and Last Judgement

Births

• January 27 – Richard Bentley, English classicist (died 1742)
• March 15 – Gabriel Álvarez de Toledo, Spanish Royal Librarian and poet (died 1714)
• October 18 – Matthew Henry, English Bible commentator (died 1714)
• November 26 – John Hudson, English classicist and librarian (died 1719)
• December 17 – Samuel Wesley, English poet and author (died 1735)

Deaths

• March 10 – Samuel Hartlib, German-born English polymath (born 1600)
• March 30 – François le Métel de Boisrobert, French poet (born 1592)
• May – Daniel de Priézac, French political writer (born 1590)
• August 17 – Richard Hubberthorne, English Quaker preacher and writer (born 1628)
• August 19 – Blaise Pascal, French philosopher (born 1623)
• Unknown date – Henry Jeanes, English controversialist and pamphleteer (born 1611)