TALE OF A TUB: ‘Written for the Universal Improvement of Mankind’

Jonathan Swift (1667 – 1745) was an Anglo-Irish satirist, essayist, poet, cleric and Dean of St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin. His most famous works are Gulliver's Travels, A Modest Proposal and A Tale of a Tub. He is still regarded as the foremost prose satirist in the English language and his deadpan style caused the term 'Swiftian' to be embedded in the English language.

A Tale of a Tub, 'Written for the Universal Improvement of Mankind', was Swift's first major work and his most difficult and masterly satire. It is a prose parody divided into sections, each delving into the morals and ethics of the English. Composed between 1694 and1697, it was published in 1704. It was attacked as being as a satire on religion. Leading the attack was the theologian William Wotton.

The title page of this copy states that it was published by Herbert B Turner & Co, Boston, 1902.

Confusingly, this copy contains 'explanatory notes' by none other than William Wotton.

It is 4 ¼" x 6 ¼", burgundy boards with a leaf design on the cover and spine. It contains a full-page B&W image of Swift (from the Bodleian). There is also a little illustration of St Patrick's Cathedral.

The pages are all clean and clear and perfectly readable, but it has lots of shelfwear. The outside shows its age; the inside is in great shape.

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