[Jonathan Swift] | Gulliver's Travels, London, 1726-27, 3 vols, nineteenth century red morocco gilt by F. Bedford

[Jonathan Swift]

Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. London: Benj. Motte, 1726-1727

FIRST EDITION, (Teerink's "AA" edition, small print), 3 volumes (including spurious third volume), 8vo (194 x 118mm.), volume 1 with engraved portrait frontispiece (Teerink's second state, with inscription round the oval, the tablet bearing Latin inscription), volumes 1 and 2 with 5 engraved maps and 1 plan with titles to each part, volume 3 with half-title, engraved frontispiece, and titles to both parts, woodcut head- and tailpieces and initials in all volumes, nineteenth-century crushed red morocco gilt by F. Bedford, spines with raised bands in six gilt compartments, gilt edges, marbled endpapers, occasional light spotting

First edition, including the spurious "third" volume, of "one of the earliest and greatest of all English novels, by the author who as a satirist [...] has no equal in English for range, subtlety, and power" (Clive Probyn, ODNB). The Travels were written in Ireland, probably between 1720 and 1725, and Swift brought the finished manuscript to England with him when he left Dublin for London in March 1726. As the time of publication approached, it was frequently discussed by his friends, but even after it appeared on 28 October 1726, Swift kept up the public pretence of having had no hand in it.

LITERATURE

Grolier, English 42; PMM 185; Vols 1 and 2: Teerink 289; Vol. 3: Teerink 292