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This volume contains the three works which together make up Jonathan Swift's early satiric and intellectual masterpiece, A Tale of a Tub: the Tale itself, The Battel of the Books, and The Mechanical Operation of the Spirit. Incorporating much new knowledge, this 2010 edition provides the first full scholarly treatment of this important work for fifty years. The introduction discusses publication, composition, and authorship; sources, analogues and generic models; reception; and religious, scientific and literary contexts (including the ancients and moderns controversy). Detailed explanatory notes address many previously unexplained issues in this famously rich and difficult work. Texts have been fully collated and edited according to modern principles and are accompanied with a textual introduction and full textual apparatus. Illustrations include title pages, the eight engravings from the fifth edition, and original designs for these engravings. Extensive associated contemporary materials, including Edmund Curll's Key and William Wotton's Observations, are provided.
List of contents
General editors' preface; Acknowledgements; Chronology; Introduction; A Tale of a Tub; The Battel of the Books; A Discourse Concerning the Mechanical Operation of the Spirit; Swift's editorial matter for Temple's posthumous publications: Letters written by Sir W. Temple (1700); Miscellanea. The Third Part (1701); Letters to the King (1703); Memoirs. Part III. (1709); Appendices: A. Letters between Swift and Benjamin Tooke, 29 June and 10 July 1710; B. William Wotton, 'Observations upon the Tale of a Tub'; C. Edmund Curll's Complete Key to the Tale of a Tub; D. Materials from Miscellaneous Works (1720); E. Swift's Moor Park reading list; Textual introduction and apparatus; Explanatory notes; Bibliography; Index.
About the author
Marcus Walsh is Kenneth Allott Professor of Literature at the University of Liverpool.
