Details
[SWIFT, Jonathan (1667-1745)]
Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World... by Captain Lemuel Gulliver. London: Benj. Motte, 1726.
First edition of Swift’s masterpiece in a contemporary binding: an association copy, this being from the library of Swift’s correspondent Henrietta Howard, Countess of Suffolk, at Marble Hill House. Teerink’s ‘B’ edition.
Henrietta Howard (1689-1767) was mistress to George II and an intimate of Queen Caroline. Marble Hill House, her Neo-Palladian villa in Twickenham, was constructed between 1724 and 1729 and was frequently visited by literary luminaries including Swift, Alexander Pope and John Gay 'Howard was […] a patron of the arts and a potentially useful friend to writers she admired. She and Jonathan Swift had been carrying on a gossipy correspondence for several years when Gulliver's Travels [...] was published in October 1726. At first, he tried to preserve authorial anonymity. But readers had their suspicions [...] The month after it was published, Howard sent swift a letter replete with teasing references to Yahoos and Houyhnhnms, the savage humanoids and ultra-rational horses Gulliver encounters in Part IV of his travels. In his reply, on 27 November, Swift feigned ignorance, claiming that he'd had to buy a copy of the book in order to understand her 'unaccountable' references’ (Bird). Michael and Orlando Bird, Writers' Letters: Jane Austen to Chinua Achebe (2021); Teerink 291.
2 volumes, octavo (192 x 119mm). Engraved frontispiece portrait of the author in the second state, 6 engraved plates (occasional faint browning, minor soiling to general title in vol. II). Contemporary panelled speckled calf, double gilt-ruled borders, morocco spine labels lettered in gilt (spine labels probably later, some wear at extremities, slight splitting to joints of vol. II, headcaps of both vols. Just chipped). Provenance: ‘Removed from Marble Hill House’ (inscription in both vols. on blank endpaper facing title, this apparently being one of 511 books removed by Howard’s niece, Henrietta Hotham, in 1794).
Special notice
No VAT is payable on the hammer price or the buyer's premium for this lot. Please see the VAT Symbols and Explanation section of the Conditions of Sale for further information
Details
[SWIFT, Jonathan (1667-1745)]
Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World... by Captain Lemuel Gulliver. London: Benj. Motte, 1726.
First edition of Swift’s masterpiece in a contemporary binding: an association copy, this being from the library of Swift’s correspondent Henrietta Howard, Countess of Suffolk, at Marble Hill House. Teerink’s ‘B’ edition.
Henrietta Howard (1689-1767) was mistress to George II and an intimate of Queen Caroline. Marble Hill House, her Neo-Palladian villa in Twickenham, was constructed between 1724 and 1729 and was frequently visited by literary luminaries including Swift, Alexander Pope and John Gay 'Howard was […] a patron of the arts and a potentially useful friend to writers she admired. She and Jonathan Swift had been carrying on a gossipy correspondence for several years when Gulliver's Travels [...] was published in October 1726. At first, he tried to preserve authorial anonymity. But readers had their suspicions [...] The month after it was published, Howard sent swift a letter replete with teasing references to Yahoos and Houyhnhnms, the savage humanoids and ultra-rational horses Gulliver encounters in Part IV of his travels. In his reply, on 27 November, Swift feigned ignorance, claiming that he'd had to buy a copy of the book in order to understand her 'unaccountable' references’ (Bird). Michael and Orlando Bird, Writers' Letters: Jane Austen to Chinua Achebe (2021); Teerink 291.
2 volumes, octavo (192 x 119mm). Engraved frontispiece portrait of the author in the second state, 6 engraved plates (occasional faint browning, minor soiling to general title in vol. II). Contemporary panelled speckled calf, double gilt-ruled borders, morocco spine labels lettered in gilt (spine labels probably later, some wear at extremities, slight splitting to joints of vol. II, headcaps of both vols. Just chipped). Provenance: ‘Removed from Marble Hill House’ (inscription in both vols. on blank endpaper facing title, this apparently being one of 511 books removed by Howard’s niece, Henrietta Hotham, in 1794).
Special notice
No VAT is payable on the hammer price or the buyer's premium for this lot. Please see the VAT Symbols and Explanation section of the Conditions of Sale for further information
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Create an alert![[SWIFT, Jonathan (1667-1745)]](https://www.christies.com/img/lotimages/2023/CKS/2023_CKS_21952_0182_000(swift_jonathan_travels_into_several_remote_nations_of_the_world_by_cap080629).jpg "Source: Christie's")
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