Sam's "Gulliver's Travels Post"

Since the first time it was printed in 1726, Gulliver's Travels has been reprinted and remade several times, across mediums, and even many times in the same century that it was first written. Two such publications are Travels Into Several Remote Nations Of The World from 1796 and The Travels And Adventures Of Capt. Lemuel Gulliver from 1750. Despite being the same story and only being printed 39 years apart, we can see notable differences between the two versions of the text. Two things that we can look at are the images and the parts of the text that was printed. By looking at these two things we can the 1796 version of Gulliver’s Travels was made for a more intellectual audience.

First let’s look at the parts of the text that is printed. The travels and adventures of Capt. Lemuel Gulliver is only 24 pages long and only contains the first part of the text. On the other hand, Travels into several remote nations of the world contains the first two part of the story. The first part of the 1796 version is not only longer but also contains far more text. Because of these two factors, I am made to believe that the 1796 version was made for someone who wanted to actually read the story while the 1750 version was made for someone that just wanted to know the story.

Another aspect of the text that we can look at is the images that are prevalent throughout the texts. Both contain images but the 1750 publication has images throughout the book while the 1796 publication only contains a few pictures. The 1796 version is almost entirely walls of text. Books with images throughout were a luxury item during the 18^th century. So, I think that this, combined with being less wordy means that the 1750 publication is meant to be something akin to a coffee table book. It is meant to be something that is displayed, rather than read like the 1796 publication.

Travels Into Several Remote Nations Of The World from 1796 is meant more for an intellectual audience. It has more text and less images. It looks like something that is meant to be read. On the other hand, 1750’s The Travels And Adventures Of Capt. Lemuel Gulliver looks like more a novelty item. The implications for the text as a whole of this is that the 1750 version is the one that you want to read if you want a more accurate representation of the book.