List of anonymously published works

Throughout the history of literature, since the creation of bound texts in the forms of books and codices, various works have been published and written anonymously, often due to their political or controversial nature, or merely for the purposes of the privacy of their authors, among other reasons. This article provides a list of literary works published anonymously, either attributed to "Anonymous", or with no specific author's name given.

Not included in this list are works which predate the advent of publishing and general attribution of authorship, such as ancient written inscriptions (such as hieroglyphic or pictographical, transcribed texts), certain historical folklore and myths of oral traditions now published as text, and reference or plain texts (letters, notes, graffiti) recovered archaeologically, which are otherwise unimportant to literary studies. Religious texts and grimoires, which are often written anonymously, may appear, along with works initially written anonymously whose authors are now known.

This list is ordered alphabetically by title.

Works predating the Common Era

Ancient Mesopotamian works

Debate between bird and fish
EnÃ»ma EliÅ¡
Hurrian hymn to Nikkal
Inscriptions at Tell Abu Salabikh
- Instructions of Shuruppak, attributed to the historically debatable Shuruppak
Kesh Temple Hymn
Sumerian city laments
- Lament for Ur
- Lament for Sumer and Ur
- Lament for Nippur
- Lament for Eridu
- Lament for Uruk
Sumerian creation myth

Ancient Egyptian works

Ancient Egyptian funerary texts
- Coffin Texts
- New Kingdom funerary texts
  - Book of the Dead
  - Amduat
  - Spell of the Twelve Caves
  - The Book of Gates
  - Book of the Netherworld
  - Book of Caverns
  - Book of the Earth
  - Litany of Re
  - Book of the Heavens
- Pyramid Texts
Ancient Egyptian medical papyri

Other works

I Ching
The Aesop Romance
The Hebrew Scriptures
The New Testament, other than the authentic Epistles of Paul

Early classics

Cantar de Mio Cid
Beowulf
Dresden Codex
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
The Second Shepherds' Play
"Enchiriadis" texts
- Scolica enchiriadis
- Musica enchiriadis
The Battle of Maldon
Diaries of Court Ladies of Old Japan
Gesta Hungarorum
The Secret History of the Mongols
St. Erkenwald
Corpus Hermeticum

15th century

The pasquinades (satirical poems) glued to the Talking Statues of Rome. They still appear from time to time.
The Key of Solomon
The Skibby Chronicle
La Farce de maÃ®tre Pierre Pathelin
Hypnerotomachia Poliphili, published anonymously at the time, now considered likely to have been written by Francesco Colonna
The Voynich manuscript

16th century

Narrative of Some Things of New Spain and of the Great City of Temestitan
Lazarillo de Tormes
Chilam Balam

17th century

Theophrastus redivivus
The entire catalog of Pierre Marteau
All works published after 1788 by Sylvain MarÃ©chal

18th century

An Essay on the Principle of Population by T.R. Malthus, originally published anonymously
Anti-Machiavel by Frederick the Great, originally published anonymously
Dream of the Red Chamber by Cao Xueqin, originally published anonymously
The Sorrows of Yamba by Hannah More, originally published anonymously
Common Sense (pamphlet) by Thomas Paine, originally published anonymously
The Animated Skeleton
The Cavern of Death

19th century

A Brief Inquiry Into the Natural Rights of Man
Tamerlane and Other Poems, the first published collection of poems by Edgar Allan Poe, originally published anonymously
A Strange Manuscript Found in a Copper Cylinder by James De Mille, originally published anonymously
The Log-Cabin Lady
Supernatural Religion: An Inquiry into the Reality of Divine Revelation by Walter Richard Cassels, originally published anonymously
Democracy by Henry Adams, originally published anonymously
Romance of Lust, originally published anonymously but variously attributed to Edward Sellon or William Simpson Potter
Elizabeth and Her German Garden by Elizabeth von Arnim, originally published anonymously
The Way of a Pilgrim
The Great Organ In The Boston Music Hall
The String of Pearls

20th century

The Autobiography of a Flea erotic novel published in 1901.
The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man, the story of a young biracial man, was published anonymously in 1912 by James Weldon Johnson who revealed himself as the author in 1927.
The Diary of a U-boat Commander ~1918
Go Ask Alice, now known to have been written by Beatrice Sparks.
A Woman in Berlin, an anonymous diary detailing experiences of a German woman as Germany is defeated in World War II.
Primary Colors, published anonymously but later revealed to be by journalist Joe Klein.

21st century

Fighting for Our Lives, an anarchist primer published by the CrimethInc collective. All CrimethInc publications are published anonymously.
Bourbon Kid, an ongoing supernatural horror series first published in 2000
The Bride Stripped Bare, an erotic novel published in 2003; soon after, the author was revealed as the Australian writer Nikki Gemmell.
Through Our Enemies' Eyes: Osama Bin Laden, Radical Islam and the Future of America (2003) and Imperial Hubris: Why the West is Losing the War on Terror (2004) - both revealed to have been written by former CIA employee Michael Scheuer.
Recipes for Disaster (2004) - An Anarchist Cookbook published by the CrimethInc collective.
Rolling Thunder (2005â€"2014) - eleven issues of "an anarchist journal of dangerous living" published the CrimethInc collective.
Diary of an Oxygen Thief (2006) - A Dutch novel about the independent art, literature, and music scene in [Brooklyn], New York.
Houston remains Anonymous (2008) - [1]
Real Life Ren-Gate: Christy Carlson Romano, Censorship, and the Threat to Her Unofficial Fan Sites During the Age of Web 2.0 (2008) - ISBN 978-0-557-01475-0. An anti-copyright publication on the discouragement from the official sites of Christy Carlson Romano toward fan transformative works under "fair use" doctrine.
O: A Presidential Novel (2011) - ISBN 978-1-4516-2596-7. A speculative novel about President Barack Obama's 2012 re-election campaign. The publishers, Simon & Schuster, claim that the book was written by someone who was "in the room" with the President.

References

External links

See http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu to find some of these texts on the web.
Works by Anonymous at Project Gutenberg

List of anonymously published works

Friday, February 20, 2015