Travels Into Several Remote Nations of the World

Printed for Benjamin Motte, London 1726, 2 volumes, First edition, First printing, Octavo, contemporary full speckled brown calf gilt, raised bands, brown morocco spine labels, housed in two custom cloth chemise and a fine clamshell box. Travels Into Several Remote Nations of the World. In four parts. By Lemuel Gulliver, First a Surgeon and then a Captain of several Ships. An extraordinary copy in unrestored full contemporary calf, one of the scarcest and most desirable books in all of English literature, with engraved frontispiece portrait of Gulliver, six plates (four maps and two plans), as well as numerous woodcut initials, head- and tail pieces. Exceptionally rare first issue, particularly in contemporary calf. A classic "at once a favorite book of children and a summary of bitter scorn for mankind", Swifts Masterpiece will "last as long as the language, because it describes the vices of man in all nations" (DNB) "A remarkable feat in the creation of imaginary worlds as a vehicle for satire upon the political and religious establishments of the day"(Clute & Grant, 914). "Gulliver's Travel has given Swift an immortality beyond temporary fame. for every edition designed for the reader with an eye to the historical background, 20 have appeared, abridged or adapted for readers who care nothing for the satire and enjoy it as a first class story" (PMM 185)." Of all Swift's writings it best shows the merits of his mind and his gifts of expression. it is important to realize that it could be written only by one who had the highest ideals for human achievement and who despaired of the achieving" (Baugh et al. 865-66)- although Swift himself expressed his hope for his "Travells" to a friend: "They are admirable Things, and will wonderfully mend the world" (Rothschild 2104). "Swift was just short of sixty when the work appeared which was to pluck his from the roster of 18th-century political pamphleteers and place it among the elect. He begun to write it many years before, not as something to be tossed off and hurled into the thick of just one more partisan scrimmage, but as a general, all-embracing satiric survey of mankind that could take much time in the making." (Winterich). First published October 28,1726," John Gay wrote Swift that the whole impression sold in a week" (Winterich, 215). This copy is the extremely rare first edition, first issue (Teerink"A"), with "subsidies" on Part I, 35.5; Part III page 74 misnumbered "44" and all other neccesary points. Frontispiece in second state (Teering,s state 2a), with Latin inscription on tablet and vertical chain lines as is usual with many first state copies. Teerink 290. Grolier 100 42. Anatomy of Wonder II-1114. Fantasy and Horror 2-55. Early ink owner signature of a member of the Cottrell Dormer family, a British aristocratic line. The Cottrell Dormers inhabited Rousham House, a manor in Oxfordshire. The family included Royalists as well as prominent military men. Notably, Rousham House had a "delightful" library according to Walpole an several members of the Cottrell Dormer family were avid book collectors. The signatures in this book are probably from Clement Cottrell Dormer- the first Cottrell owner of the manor- who took the name Dormer from his cousin, a general, from whom he inherited Rousham House. Cottrell Dormer was a knight, Master of Ceremonies, a close friend to Alexander Pope and an enthusiastic antiquary who began the family tradition of book-collecting. It seems rather likely that this most exceptional copy was once housed in his library. Includes a letter from 1925 from Bernhard Quaritch describing this copy " the finest copy that has been offered for sale in London for many years", laid into volume 2. Interior generally clean and lovely, only minor rubbing to original bindings. A very handsome copy with a distinguished provenance.