1765 in literature

• January 10 – Arthur Murphy introduces Hester Thrale and her husband to Samuel Johnson. • August 12 – I'tisam-ud-Din writes the Treaty of Allahabad between the Mughal Empire and the British East India Company • October 10 – Samuel Johnson's edition of The Plays of William Shakespeare is published in London after ten years in the making. • unknown date – Denis Diderot completes the Encyclopédie. • Approximate year – Beginning of the Sturm und Drang movement in German literature. ==New books==

Fiction • Henry Brooke – The Fool of Quality (volume one; the fifth and last appeared in 1770) • Madame Riccoboni – ''L'Histoire d'Ernestine'' • Laurence Sterne – The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman (vol vii–viii) • Anonymous – The Fruit-Shop Children • Anonymous – The History of Little Goody Two-Shoes (attributed to Oliver Goldsmith) Drama • Isaac Bickerstaffe – operas • Daphne and Amintor • The Maid of the Mill • Dorothea Biehl – Den listige Optrækkerske • George Colman the Elder – The Comedies of Terence • Ramón de la Cruz – El Prado por la noche • Charles Dibdin – ''The Shepherd's Artifice'' • Samuel Foote – The Commissary • Carlo Gozzi – ''L'augellino bel verde'' • Elizabeth Griffith – The Platonic Wife • Michel-Jean Sedaine – Philosophe sans le savoir • William Shirley – Electra Poetry • James Beattie • The Judgment of Paris • Verses Occasioned by the Death of Charles Churchill • William Collins – Works • Edward Jerningham – An Elegy Written Among the Ruins of an Abbey • James Macpherson – The Works of Ossian • Thomas Percy – Reliques of Ancient English Poetry • Christopher Smart – A Translation of the Psalms of David • Percival Stockdale – Churchill Defended • Nicolás Fernandez de Moratín – La Diana o Arte de la caza Non-fiction • William Blackstone – Commentaries on the Laws of England (publication begins) • John Bunyan (died 1688) – Imprisonment of Mr. John Bunyan • Anders Chydenius – The National Gain ('''') • Benito Jerónimo Feijóo y Montenegro – Opera omnia • Henry Fuseli – Reflections on the Painting and Sculpture of the Greeks (translation of Johann Joachim Winckelmann) • Oliver Goldsmith – Essays • William Kenrick – ''A Review of Doctor Johnson's New Edition of Shakespeare'' • Filip Lastrić • Epitome vetustatum Bosnensis provinciae • '''' • Friedrich Christoph Oetinger – Swedenborg und anderer Irrdische und himmlische Philosophie • Joseph Priestley – Essay on a Course of Liberal Education for Civil and Active Life • George Alexander Stevens – The Celebrated Lecture on Heads • Tobias Smollett – Continuation of the History of England (a supplement to Hume's History of England; final volume) • Pedro Rodríguez, Conde de Campomanes – Tratado de la regalía de amortización ==Births==

• January 11 – Antoine Alexandre Barbier, French librarian (died 1825) • March 27 – Franz Xaver von Baader, German philosopher (died 1841) • April 22 – James Grahame, Scottish poet (died 1811) • September 14 – Carl Friedrich Ernst Frommann, German bookseller (died 1837) • September 15 – Manuel Maria Barbosa du Bocage, Portuguese poet (died 1805) • October 24 – James Mackintosh, Scottish historian (died 1832) • November 30 – Johann Friedrich Abegg, German theologian (died 1840) • unknown date – Jippensha Ikku (十返舎 一九 Shigeta Sadakazu), Japanese novelist (died 1831) • Probable year of birth – Henry Luttrell, English wit (died 1851) ==Deaths==

• March 3 – William Stukeley, English antiquary (born 1687) • April 5 – Edward Young, English poet, playwright and literary theorist (born 1683) • April 11 – Lewis Morris, Welsh poet, antiquary and lexicographer (born 1701) • April 15 – Mikhail Lomonosov, Russian polymath (born 1711) • April 23 – Sarah Dixon, English poet (born 1671 or 1672) • May 1 – Franz Neumayr, German controversialist and theologian (born 1697) • December 31 – Samuel Madden, Irish social and political writer (born 1686) • Unknown date • David Mallet, Scottish poet and playwright (born c. 1705) • James Ridley (Sir Charles Morell), English novelist and story writer (born 1736) ==References==