List of anonymously published works

Throughout history, various works have been published anonymously, often due to their political or controversial nature. This is a list of works published anonymously, either attributed to "Anonymous", or with no specific author's name given. For works where a pseudonym was used, see instead the list of works published under a pseudonym.

Early classics

* El Mio Cid
* Numerous religious texts, including parts of "The Bible".
* "Beowulf"
* "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight"
* "The Second Shepherds' Play"
* "Scolica enchiriadis" ninth-century music theory treatise and commentary on its companion work, the "Musica enchiriadis"
* "The Battle of Maldon" 10th century
* "Diaries of Court Ladies of Old Japan" from 11th Century Japan
* "Gesta Hungarorum", and early Hungarian history written in the 12th century
* "The Secret History of the Mongols 13th century
* "St. Erkenwald" 14th century

15th century

* The pasquinades (satirical poems) glued to the Talking Statues of Rome. They still appear from time to time.
* The "Skibby Chronicle", an anonymous Danish Latin chronicle from the 1530s.
* "La Farce de maître Pierre Pathelin" ("The Farce of Master Pierre Pathelin") popular French medieval farce
* "Hypnerotomachia Poliphili", published anonymously at the time, now considered likely to have been written by Francesco Colonna.
* The Voynich manuscript, authorship and meaning unknown.

16th century

* The "Narrative of Some Things of New Spain and of the Great City of Temestitan", an account of Hernan Cortes' conquest of the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan, attributed to "A Companion of Hernan Cortes, the Anonymous Conqueror".

17th century

* The entire catalog of Pierre Marteau.
* All works published after 1788 by Sylvain Maréchal.

18th century

* "An Essay on the Principle of Population" by Thomas Robert Malthus (originally published anonymously)
* "Anti-Machiavel", an essay by Frederick the Great, King of Prussia, first published in 1740
* "Dream of the Red Chamber" by Cao Xueqin, originally published anonymously
* "The Sorrows of Yamba, or The Negro Woman's Lamentation"

19th century

* The Turkish nationalist poet, translator, journalist, and social reformer Namık Kemal often published anonymously.
* "Tamerlane and Other Poems" was the first published collection of poems by Edgar Allan Poe, published anonymously in 1827.
* "A Strange Manuscript Found in a Copper Cylinder" by James De Mille, originally published anonymously after the author's death.
* "The Log-Cabin Lady: An Anonymous Autobiography"
* "The Princess Ilsée: A Fairy Tale" (London: Saunders, Otley, and Co., 1867), illust. by Eugène Froment
* "" published in 1880, author (Henry Adams) revealed after his death in 1918.
* "Romance of Lust", Victorian erotic novel published anonymously in four volumes (1873-1876) and variously attributed to Edward Sellon or William Simpson Potter, although a stronger case can be made for Potter as the author.
*"Elizabeth and Her German Garden", published anonymously in 1898, a humorous semi-autobiographical idyll, the first book by Elizabeth von Arnim. Her later books were published as "By the author of "Elizabeth and her German Garden".
* "The Way of a Pilgrim" Russian

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 2.
* "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.
* "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 "" (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" (2005-2008) - five issues of "an anarchist journal of dangerous living" published the CrimethInc collective.
* "Houston remains Anonymous" (2008) - [http://www.anonhouston.com]

See also

* List of works published under a pseudonym
* List of traditional works
* List of unattributable works

External links

*See http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu to find some of these texts on the web.
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