This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1739.
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- January 16 – George Frideric Handel's oratorio Saul is first performed at the King's Theatre, Haymarket, London.[1]
- February 9 – The Scots Magazine first appears.[2]
- February 17 – George Whitefield first preaches in the open air, to miners at Kingswood, South Gloucestershire, England.[3]
- March 16 – Henry Brooke's drama Gustavus Vasa becomes the first play banned under the Licensing Act 1737.[4]
- April – John Wesley first preaches in the open air, at Whitefield's invitation.[5]
- November – The Champion (periodical) is launched, with Henry Fielding (under the name Captain Hercules Vinegar) as editor.[6]
- unknown date – The first Bible in the Estonian language, Piibli Ramat, translated by Anton thor Helle, is published.[7]
Prose
- Penelope Aubin – A Collection of Entertaining Histories and Novels[8]
- John Campbell – The Travels and Adventures of Edward Bevan, Esq., formerly a merchant in London
- Elizabeth Carter
- Examination of Mr. Pope's Essay on Man (translation of De Crousaz's Examen de l'essai de Monsieur Pope sur l'homme)
- Sir Isaac Newton's Philosophy Explain'd for the Use of Ladies (translation of Algarotti's Newtonianismo per le donne)
- Philip Doddridge – The Family Expositor
- Richard Glover – London
- David Hume (anonymously) – A Treatise of Human Nature (issued late 1738 but dated this year)
- William Law – The Grounds and Reasons of Christian Regeneration
- John Mottley (as Elijah Jenkins) – Joe Miller's Jests; or, the Wits Vade-Mecum
- Robert Nugent (attributed) – An Epistle to Sir Robert Walpole[9]
- John Oldmixon – The History of England during the Reigns of Henry VIII, Edward VI, Queen Mary, Queen Elizabeth[10]
- Laetitia Pilkington – The Statues
- Samuel Richardson – Aesop's Fables
- Elizabeth Singer Rowe – Miscellaneous Works
- Thomas Sheridan – The Satires of Juvenal Translated
- Joseph Trapp – The Nature, Folly, Sin, and Danger, of Being Righteous Over-much (against George Whitefield)
- Voltaire
- De la Gloire, ou entretien avec un Chinois
- Conseils a M. Helvetius
- Isaac Watts – The World to Come
- George Whitefield – A Continuation of the Reverend Mr. Whitefield's Journal
- Paul Whitehead – Manners
Penelope Aubin (1739). A Collection of Entertaining Histories and Novels... D. Midwinter, A. Bettesworth and C Hitch, J. and J. Pemberton, R. Ware, C. Rivington, A. Ward, J. and P. Knapton, T. Longman, R. Hett, S. Austen, and J. Wood.