Swift, Jonathan | Travels Into Several Remote Nations of the World, an attractive set

Swift, Jonathan

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

3 volumes, 8vo (188 x 112 mm). Vol. I with engraved portrait frontispiece (Teerink's second state, with inscription around the oval, the tablet bearing Latin inscription), vol. III with engraved frontispiece, vols I and II with engraved maps and plan with titles to each part, vol. III with half-title and titles to each part, woodcut head- and tailpieces in all volumes; light dampstain to upper margin of all volumes, small marginal holes repaired in final three quires of vol. III, occasional very light spotting. Nineteenth-century crushed red morocco gilt, gilt edges, green endleaves; a few very light stains to covers, including waterstain to upper cover of vol. III. [Vol. I bound with:] Several Copies of Verses on Occasion of Mr. Gulliver's Travels. London: Printed for Benj. Motte, 1727. 8vo, 26 pp.

First edition (Teerink’s “B” edition, the third 8vo printing of the 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 with him when he left Dublin for London in March 1726. As the time of publication approached, the work was frequently discussed by his friends, but even after its appearance on 28 October 1726, Swift maintained the public pretense of having had no part in its authorship.

REFERENCES:

Grolier, English 42; PMM 185; Vols I and II: Teerink 291; Vol. III: Teerink 292; cf. Teerink pp. 194-195 for the Verses