February 1 – George Eliot's Adam Bede, her first full-length novel, is published by John Blackwood in the United Kingdom.[1] Contemporary reviews are largely positive, describing it as "of the highest class".[2] and "first-rate";[3] However, it is also accused of being "vile outpourings of a lewd woman's mind"[4] and circulating libraries refuse to stock it or will supply it only under the counter.[4]
June–July – Frances Harper's "The Two Offers", the first English-language short story by an African American author, is published in the first volume of The Anglo-African Magazine (New York).