Gulliver’s Travels is a satire, written by Anglo-Irish writer and clergyman, Jonathan Swift (1667 – 1745). It is both a satire on human nature, and a parody of the ‘traveller’s tales’ literary sub-genre – and Swift’s best-loved full-length work. The book became popular as soon as it was published; with John Gay informing Swift that his novel was ‘universally read, from the cabinet council to the nursery.’ The text has since become a classic of English literature, and to this day remains appreciated by both young and old alike. This edition of ‘Gulliver’s Travels’ further contains a series of dazzling colour and black-and-white illustrations – by a master of the craft; Arthur Rackham (1867 – 1939). One of the most celebrated painters of the British Golden Age of Illustration (which encompassed the years from 1850 until the start of the First World War), Rackham’s artistry is quite simply, unparalleled. Throughout his career, he developed a unique style, combining haunting humour with dream-like romance. Presented alongside the text, his illustrations further refine and elucidate Jonathan Swift’s enchanting storytelling.

A reevaluation of Swift's masterpiece and a test of the usefulness of examining a text through the perspective of genre. Gulliver is explored from the standpoint of picaresque, history, novel, children's literature, illustrated book, scientific prose, science fiction, philosophical treatise, and satire.

Jonathan Swift has had a profound impact on almost all the national literatures of Continental Europe. The celebrated author of acknowledged masterpieces like A Tale of a Tub (1704), Gulliver's Travels (1726), and A Modest Proposal (1729), the Dean of St Patrick's, Dublin, was courted by innumerable translators, adaptors, and retellers, admired and challenged by shoals of critics, and creatively imitated by both novelists and playwrights, not only in Central Europe (Germany and Switzerland) but also in its northern (Denmark and Sweden) and southern (Italy, Spain, and Portugal) outposts, as well as its eastern (Poland and Russia, Hungary, Romania, and Bulgaria) and Western parts - from the beginning of the eighteenth century to the present day.