See also: 1851 in literature, other events of 1852, 1853 in literature, list of years in literature.

Events

• Alexandre Dumas, fils writes his drama, La Dame aux camélias.
• Pierre Larousse founded his publishing house in Paris, France

New Books

• Basil: A Story of Modern Life - Wilkie Collins
• The Blithedale Romance - Nathaniel Hawthorne
• Canadian Crusoes -Catharine Parr Traill
• The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte - Karl Marx
• Eoline - Caroline Lee Hentz
• Henry Esmond - William Makepeace Thackeray
• Marcus Warland - Caroline Lee Hentz
• Pierre - Herman Melville
• Queechy - Susan Bogert Warner
• Roughing It in the Bush - Susanna Moodie
• Three Years in Europe - William Wells Brown
• Uncle Tom's Cabin - Harriet Beecher Stowe

Births

• February 24 - George Moore, writer (+ 1933)
• October 31 - Mary E. Wilkins Freeman, writer (+ 1930)
• Edwin Austin Abbey - author

Deaths

• March 4 - Nikolai Gogol, Russian author

Awards