1658 in literature

This article presents lists of the literary events and publications in 1658.

Events

• Molière arrives in Paris to act at the Louvre Palace. He performs with his troupe in front of King Louis XIV of France in Pierre Corneille's tragedy Nicomède and in his own farce Le Docteur Amoureux ("The Doctor in Love").
• Edward Phillips continues the Chronicle of the Kings of England from the Time of the Romans' Government unto the Death of King James (originally by Richard Baker) to this date.

New books

Prose

• Thomas Browne
  • The Garden of Cyrus
  • Hydriotaphia, Urn Burial
• Giambattista della Porta – Natural Magic (first publication in English translation)
• Antoine Furetière – Nouvelle Allégorique, ou histoire des derniers troubles arrivés au royaume d'éloquence
• John Gadbury – Genethlialogia, or the Doctrine of Nativities
• Pierre Gassendi – Syntagma philosophicum
• Christiaan Huygens – Horologium
• Cristóbal Lozano – Soledades de la vida y desengaños del mundo
• Edward Phillips
  • Mysteries of Love and Eloquence
  • A New World in Words, or a General Dictionary

Children

• John Amos Comenius – Orbis Pictus (reader for young children)

Drama

• Sir William Davenant – The Cruelty of the Spaniards in Peru
• William Chamberlaine – Love's Victory (published)
• Sir Aston Cockayne – The Obstinate Lady & Trappolin Suppos'd a Prince (published in one volume)
• Sir William Davenant – The Cruelty of the Spaniards in Peru (published)
• Jean Ogier de Gombauld – Les Danaïdes: tragédie
• Thomas Dekker, John Ford, & William Rowley – The Witch of Edmonton (published)
• Sir William Lower
  • The Amorous Fantasm (adapted from Philippe Quinault's Fantome Amoreux; published)
  • The Enchanted Lovers (published)
• Thomas May – The Old Couple (published)
• Jasper Mayne
  • The City Match (published)
  • The Amorous War (published)
• Thomas Meriton
  • Love and War(published)
  • The Wandering Lover(published)
• Gilbert Swinhoe – Unhappy Fair Irene (published)
• Leonard Willan – Orgula, or the Fatal Error (published)
• Juan Matos Fragoso – Parte I de comedias

Poetry

• Sir Aston Cockayne – Small Poems of Divers Sorts
• Georg Stiernhielm – Hercules

Births

• February 18 – Charles-Irénée Castel de Saint-Pierre, French writer and thinker (died 1743)
• September 16 – John Dennis, English dramatist and critic (died 1734)
• Unknown date – Elizabeth Barry, actress (died 1713)

Deaths

• April 29 – John Cleveland, English poet (born 1613)
• November 6 – Pierre du Ryer, French dramatist (born 1606)
• November 15 – Jacobus Revius, Dutch poet, theologian and church historian (born 1586)
• December 6 – Baltasar Gracián, Spanish Jesuit writer (born 1601)
• Unknown date – Pedro de Torres Rámila, Spanish poet, satirist and Renaissance humanist (born 1583)