Author: SWIFT, Jonathan.
Title: Travels into several remote nations of the world. In four parts, by Lemuel Gulliver, first a surgeon, and then a captain of several ships.London, Benjamin Motte, [28 October] 1726. 4 parts in 2 volumes. 8vo. With the portrait of Gulliver by John Sturt as engraved by Robert Sheppard and with six engraved plates (including 5 maps) by H. Moll. 19th-century polished calf by Francis Bedford (with his stamp), each board with a gold-tooled triple-fillet frame, gold-tooled spines, green morocco spine labels lettered in gold, gold-tooled turn-ins, marbled endpapers.
Description: XVI, 148; [6], 164; [6], 155, [1 blank]; [8], 199, [1 blank] pp.A very good copy of the first edition, first issue (Teerink “A”), with the portrait in second state as usual, of the most famous imaginary voyage of all time and a brilliant satire of society: one of the greatest of all works of English literature. From its first publication, the success of Gulliver was immediate and sustained, its influence enormous. Gove knows more than a hundred eighteenth-century editions and there have been countless since. Although it had its famous detractors (notably Samuel Johnson’s famously dismissive “When once you have thought of the big men and little men, it is very easy to do all the rest”) it has become one of the best loved and most immediately recognizable works of fiction. No one was more surprised by this than Swift himself, who had said to Pope that the satire would never be published until “a printer shall be found brave enough to venture his ears”: in 1634 and 1637, less than a century earlier, William Laud, Archbishop of Canterbury, had the London printer William Prynne’s ears cut off for printing seditious pamphlets."Gulliver's Travels has given Swift an immortality beyond temporary fame" (Printing and the mind of man). Gulliver is one of the most famous English books of all time, and also the greatest work of literature associated with Australia. It is a crucial work in the imaginary voyage tradition, particularly for its use of a series of realistic framing devices which include maps, an editorial comment that the work has been greatly reduced by the omission of most of the material relating to winds and tides, and reference to genuine sailors such as Dampier or their props, such as Sanson’s Atlas. Gulliver, who is made a cousin of William Dampier, comments at one point that he was “coasting New Holland”, meaning Australia, and at another that he has been “driven by a violent storm to the north-west of Van Diemen’s Land”, meaning Tasmania -- in the very year (1699) that Dampier was in fact exploring the Australian northwest. Gulliver is quite precise in his mapping of the lands he visits, and as Davidson notes, “With a latitude given as 30°2’ south, the imaginary Lilliput … is placed somewhere in South Australia, probably near the isles of St Francis and St Peter at the eastern end of the Great Australian Bight”. The frontispiece portrait of Gulliver, here is in the second (more frequent) of two states (with the inscription “Captain Lemuel Gulliver of Redriff. Ætat. suæ LVIII.” around the oval and the tablet bearing a Latin inscription, printed on paper with vertical chain-lines). The first edition was released in two volumes on 28 October 1726. The book was an instant sensation and sold out its first run in less than a week. The novel’s striking success is testified by a letter of 17 November 1726 by John Gay (Correspondence, vol. III, p. 182): “About ten days ago a Book was published here of the Travels of one Gulliver, which hath been the conversation of the whole town … From the highest to the lowest it is universally read, from the Cabinet-council to the Nursery”. Gulliver’s Travels has ascended to the final apotheosis of a satirical fable, but it has also become a timeless tale for children.With the bookplate of Ralph Clutton (died 1888) in both volumes. With only a few very minor spots, but overall in very good condition.l Davidson, 'A Book Collector's Notes', pp. 39-40; ESTC, T139451; Printing and the mind of man, 185; Rothschild, 2104; Teerink, 289 "A" edition.

Keywords: [6369B77AC038] LITERATURE & LINGUISTICS|[6369B77AC038] LITERATURE & LINGUISTICS -> [HAEFV3Q9TWW1] Imaginary Voyages & Utopias|