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The year 1708 in literature involved some significant events.

Events

• The Battle of Oudenarde
• Joseph Trapp becomes Oxford Professor of Poetry.
• Edward Lhuyd becomes a Fellow of the Royal Society.

New books

• Joseph Addison - The Present State of the War (pro-Marlborough tract)
• Edmund Arwaker - Truth in Fiction (fables)
• Francis Atterbury - Fourteen Sermons Preach'd on Several Occasions
• Joseph Bingham - Origines Ecclesiasticae, or Antiquities of the Christian Church, vol. 1
• Richard Blackmore - The Kit-Cats
• Jeremy Collier - An Ecclesiastical History of Great Britain, Chiefly of England (vol. 1)
• Ebenezer Cook - The Sot-Weed Factor
• Anthony Ashley Cooper, 3rd Earl of Shaftesbury - A Letter Concerning Enthusiasm (contra radical Protestantism)
• Edmund Curll - The Charitable Surgeon
• John Downes - Roscius Anglicanus (a historical review of the stage)
• Elijah Fenton - Oxford and Cambridge Miscellany Poems
• Bishop Fisher's Funeral Sermon for Margaret, Countess of Richmond and Derby (with a preface by Thomas Baker)
• John Gay - Wine
• Charles Gildon - Libertas Triumphans (re Battle of Oudenarde)
  • - The New Metamorphosis (fiction)
• John Harris - Lexicon Technicum: Or, An Universal English Dictionary of Arts and Sciences, vol. 1 (2nd edition)
• Aaron Hill - The Celebrated Speeches of Ajax and Ulysses, for the Armour of Achilles (from Ovid)
• Benjamin Hoadly - The Unhappiness of the Present Establishment, and the Unhappiness of Absolute Monarchy
• William King - The Art of Cookery (poem)
• Anne de La Roche-Guilhem - La Foire de Beaucaire
• John Locke - Some Familiar Letters (posth.)
• Simon Ockley - The Conquest of Syria, Persia, and Aegypt by the Saracens (vol. 1 of History of the Saracens)
• Matthew Prior - Poems on Several Occasions (see 1707 for the vexatious publication)
• Jonathan Swift - Predictions for the Year 1708
  • - The Accomplishment of the First of Mr. Bickerstaff's Predictions (together, part of the "Bickerstaff Papers")
  • - An Argument against Abolishing Christianity

New drama

• Thomas Baker - The Fine Lady's Airs
• Peter Anthony Motteux - Love's Triumph (opera)
• Nicholas Rowe - The Royal Convert

Births

• April 23 - Friedrich von Hagedorn, German poet (died 1754)
• date unknown
  • Olof von Dalin, poet
  • Richard Dawes, English classical scholar (died 1766)
  • Thomas Seward, English poet
  • Samuel Boyse
  • Laetitia Pilkington (poss.)

Deaths

• October 11 - Ehrenfried Walther von Tschirnhaus, philosopher (born 1651)
• October 22 - Hermann Witsius, theologian (born 1636)
• date unknown
  • Johannes Kelpius, polymath (born 1673)
  • Nicolae Milescu, travel writer (born 1636)
  • William Walsh, poet and critic (born 1663)