Analyzing the 1726 and 1765 Editions of Gulliver’s Travels

By comparing two editions of Gulliver’s Travels, one being the original edition published in 1726 and the other published posthumously in 1765, the reader notices stark differences in each edition’s intention and audience. The 1726 edition is elaborately decorated, complete with a frontispiece engraving of Captain Gulliver, header decorations, and a historiated initial. In addition, the text is larger, and the publisher included a lot of white space between the lines and words. Careful attention to detail is included within the text itself, with names of people and places and time capitalized. In contrast, the 1765 edition was economical in its design and layout. No engravings or decorations appear in this edition, and the editor was sure to minimize the text and white space as much as possible while still making it readable. Considering the different years in which these editions were published, one could see that the 1726 edition may have chosen to prioritize aesthetics over economy to attract buyers to this new book. About forty years later, the 1765 edition may have provided a cheaper alternative for what was then a well-established book.

The 1765 edition also attracts a different sort of audience than the 1726 edition through its provided footnotes. Jonathan Smith’s autobiographer, Lord Orrery, provides commentary for parts one and two before the first part and parts three and four before each respective part. His analysis spans about a couple of pages for each and is sometimes accompanied by one or two other literary critics' responses below his. In these footnotes, he directly informs the reader of the “general intent of this hieroglyphic writer” (15) and previews what he seeks to satirize in each island. Despite being an admirer of Swift’s genius, Lord Orrery is especially critical of how Swift “has indulged a misanthropy that is intolerable” (223) in this part and claims “his fallacies and wit lose all their force, nothing remaining but a melancholy and disagreeable impression” (223). However, the editor supplements this footnote with another who disputes each of Lord Orrey’s arguments. Considering that he expects the audience to know Latin and be familiar with philosophers like Francis Bacon to comprehend these footnotes, the publisher likely intended this edition for a well-educated reader. By presenting such context and criticism, the edition explicitly connects Swift’s writings to the questions around science and morality that abounded at the time.

Works Cited

Swift, Jonathan. Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. In Four Parts. By Lemuel

Gulliver, First a Surgeon, and Then a Captain of Several Ships. Benj. Motte, 1726. Eighteenth Century Collections Online, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/CW0109095940/ECCO?u=umd_um&sid=bookmark-ECCO&xid=3f4043ba&pg=2. Accessed 5 Nov. 2021.

Swift, Jonathan. Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. In Four Parts. By Lemuel

Gulliver, First a Surgeon, and Then a Captain of Several Ships. James Knox, 1765. Eighteenth Century Collections Online, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/CB0127784029/ECCO?u=umd_um&sid=bookmark-ECCO&xid=95d099b5&pg=1. Accessed 5 Nov. 2021.