Barron Rare Books presents -Jonathan Swift's Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World 1726-1727

Jonathan Swift looks on as Rick Barron proudly holds the 1726-27 two-volume, four-part set of Swift's classic Gulliver's Travels.

Travels Into Several Remote Nations of the World. In Four Parts by Lemuel Gulliver, First a Surgeon, and then a Captain of Several Ships. Barron Rare Books has recently listed this important 1726 First Edition (Vol. I) + 1727 “Second Edition Corrected” (Vol. II) published by Benjamin Motte, London. With Portrait and Six Maps**

A compelling mixed‑issue set of Swift’s satirical masterpiece, comprising a FIRST EDITION, Teerink AA, of Volume I (1726) and a “Second Edition, corrected” Volume II dated 1727 — Motte’s important early revised printing containing roughly one hundred textual adjustments. An honest, unsophisticated pair in contemporary calf, complete with the engraved portrait and all six maps or plans.

Bibliographic Description

Two octavo volumes.   Published in London by Benjamin Motte, 1726–27.

Volume I:  

• First Edition, Teerink AA (the earliest obtainable state), issued mid‑November 1726.

• Engraved frontispiece portrait of Gulliver, Teerink’s Second State, with inscription around the oval and Latin motto on the tablet below.

• Printed on laid paper with vertical chain lines; portrait bound facing the Part I title, as called for.

• Illustrated with six full‑page plates, five of which are maps.

• Each of the four parts with separate pagination.

• Correct first‑edition readings present, including: – Part I, p. 17, l. 22: “Potion” – Part I, p. 35, l. 5: “Subsidues.”   These are among the classic points identifying early Motte printings.

Volume II:  

• Title page dated 1727, bearing the statement “The Second Edition, Corrected.”  

• As noted by Hubbard (pp. 127–128), this is Motte’s fourth overall edition, though styled “second,” and represents the first meaningful revision of Swift’s text.

• Swift himself later complained that he had not read proofs for the 1726 printings and that the text had been “mangled”; Motte’s 1727 issue incorporates numerous small corrections — roughly a hundred — marking the earliest substantive editorial intervention in the novel’s publication history.

Jonathan Swift holds a copy of Gulliver's Travels

Condition: Contemporary calf, both volumes rebacked with original boards retained. Leather corners and spine surfaces rubbed and chipped; expected wear to joints and extremities. Some foxing and browning to text, with light creasing to the corners of a few leaves. Early ink ownership to the blank preliminary leaf of Volume I. A sound, complete, and appealingly unsophisticated set, showing the honest patina of nearly three centuries.

Barron Rare Books copy of Gulliver's Travels in its custom Clamshell Case.

Notes on Publication History

Teerink’s AA issue of Volume I — the earliest obtainable state — was released in mid‑November 1726, part of the extraordinary publishing rush that saw five editions of Gulliver’s Travels appear between 1726 and 1727 (three octavos in 1726, one octavo and one duodecimo in 1727), all under Motte’s imprint. The 1727 “Second Edition, Corrected” is bibliographically significant: it is the first printing to incorporate Swift’s own post‑publication corrections, making this mixed set a fascinating snapshot of the novel’s earliest textual evolution.

A Strong, Bibliographically Interesting Pair

While mixed sets are not uncommon, this combination — Teerink AA for Volume I paired with Motte’s corrected 1727 Volume II — offers both the immediacy of the true first edition and the author‑driven textual refinements of the following year. A desirable set for collectors who appreciate the complex early printing history of Swift’s most enduring work. You will find it at a fair price right now on BarronRareBooks.com.