Children's illustrated edition of Gulliver's Travels, 1864
Information
Description
First written in 1726, and altered in 1735, Gulliver’s Travels is a classic of social satire. Using the format of the set of traveller’s tales, Jonathan Swift creates in each scenario a single abnormal condition, which allows him to examine the weaknesses of contemporary British society. The book was instantly popular, and Swift’s friend John Gay wrote to him that it was ‘universally read, from the cabinet council to the nursery’. Many nineteenth-century versions for children omitted the passage where Gulliver extinguishes the palace fire at Lilliput by urinating on it.
How do themes in Gulliver’s Travels connect to H G Wells's The Island of Dr Moreau?
As a political and scientific thinker H G Wells looked forward to humanity being able to break away from prejudice and oppression in favour of embracing its potential; Brian Aldiss proposes that this is why Wells admired Swift (Wells read Gulliver’s Travels as a teenager). By means of satire, Swift creates a clear view of the absurdity of human social structures, and shows the connection between people and animals.
There are close links between The Island of Dr Moreau and the island of the Houyhnhnms in Gulliver’s Travels. There is a two-layer society, where like the beast folk, the Yahoos are part animal part human; and like Gulliver, Prendick leaves the island under a cloud of failure.
- Full title:
- Gulliver's Travels ... With a memoir of the author. Illustrated from designs by J. G. Thomson, etc.
- Published:
- 1864, London
- Format:
- Book / Illustration / Image
- Creator:
- Jonathan Swift, J G Thompson [illustrator]
- Usage terms
- Public Domain
- Held by
- British Library
- Shelfmark:
- 1570/3328
Explore further
Related articles
An introduction to Gulliver’s Travels
- Article by:
- John Mullan
- Themes:
- Travel, colonialism and slavery, Satire and humour, Politics and religion, Rise of the novel
Jonathan Swift initially did his best to conceal the fact that he was the author of Gulliver's Travels. John Mullan explores how Swift constructed the work to operate as an elaborate game, parodying travel literature, pretending to be an autobiography and containing obviously false facts presented by a deeply unreliable narrator.
Travel, trade and the expansion of the British Empire
- Article by:
- Jim Watt
- Themes:
- Travel, colonialism and slavery, Politics and religion
In the 17th century, London was at the centre of global trade, with goods and individuals arriving in the capital from all over the world. Jim Watt looks at how travel, trade and empire shaped the works of Daniel Defoe, Alexander Pope, Josiah Wedgwood, Oliver Goldsmith and Ignatius Sancho.
Class in The Time Machine
- Article by:
- Matthew Taunton
- Themes:
- Visions of the future, Fin de siècle, Poverty and the working classes
Dr Matthew Taunton reveals how The Time Machine reflects H G Wells’s fascination with class division, the effects of capitalism and the evolution of the human race.
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