Appearing for this first time in print, Word-Book is Swift’s dictionary of words and definitions for his protégé Esther Johnson. The volume includes photographs from and a transcript of the original book. Supplementing the transcript are the editors notations showing Swift’s corrections in Johnson’s text, essays comparing Swift’s dictionary to others available at that time and exploring the social and psychological milieu in which it was written, and detailed appendices.

"This collection gathers the expertise of scholars in several disciplines to examine the manner in which financial and economic arguments were expressed in pamphlets, broadsides, and longer works of literature in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and to assess to what extent the political realities of the day were informed by these debates or, alternatively, shaped by that rhetoric. The contributors to the volume draw upon an extensive variety of contemporary sources and modern analyses of the formative years of the financial revolution to reexamine many of the existing conventional ideas about the relationship between money, power, and print, and to suggest that the subject is far more complex and interrelated than most studies up to now have indicated. Particular attention is paid to the fact that the financial revolution did not occur in London in isolation from the various regions of the British Isles." "The essays address the question of how money, power, and print influenced the contemporary emergence of a radically different public finance structure in the British empire and how retrospective understanding of the results have influenced historical readings of the texts and the events. A number of contributions offer detailed analyses of particular moments or structures in the reshaping of the public financial sphere, such as the parliamentary and pamphlet debate over the establishment of the Bank of England and proposals for a land bank as an alternative. Other essays focus on broader themes illustrative of larger trends during the period, such as the Scottish support for an expedition to Madagascar to take advantage of presumed pirate treasure on the island."--BOOK JACKET.

Presents a fresh account of the life history and creative imagination of Jonathan Swift Classic satires such as Gulliver’s Travels, A Modest Proposal, and A Tale of a Tub express radical positions, yet were written by the most conservative of men. Jonathan Swift was born in Dublin and spent most of his life in Ireland, never traveling outside the British Isles. An Anglo-Irish Protestant clergyman, he was a major political and religious figure whose career was primarily clerical, not literary. Although much is known about Swift, in many ways he remains an enigma. He was admired as an Irish patriot yet was contemptuous of the Irish. He was both secretive and self-dramatizing. His talent for friendship was matched by his skill for making enemies. He hated the English but yearned to live in England. The Life of Jonathan Swift explores the writing life and personal history of the foremost satirist in the English language. Accessible and engaging, this critical biography brings Swift’s writing and creative sensibility into the narrative of his life. Author Thomas Lockwood provides the historical and modern critical context of Swift’s prose satires and poetry, as well as his political journalism, essays, manuscripts, and personal correspondence. Throughout the book, biographically contextualized descriptions of Swift’s most famous works help readers better understand both the writing and the writer. Provides critical profiles of Gulliver’s Travels, An Argument Against Abolishing Christianity, Drapier’s Letters, and Swift’s other famous works Offers insights into Swift’s relationships with Esther Johnson, “Stella,” and Esther Vanhomrigh, “Vanessa” Highlights Swift’s poetry and how verse writing was a vital part of his creative being Summarizes and contextualizes lesser-known works such as The Conduct of the Allies Addresses the historic critical bias against comedy or satire as inferior forms of art, both in Swift’s lifetime and the present The Life of Jonathan Swift is an essential resource for general readers of literature and literary biography, university instructors and researchers, and undergraduate students taking courses in English literature.