Beschreibung:

SWIFT, Jonathan]. A Familiar Answer to a Familiar Letter . London [but probably Dublin]: [s.n.], 1720.
SWIFT, Jonathan]. A Familiar Answer to a Familiar Letter . London [but probably Dublin]: [s.n.], 1720. 4° (185 x 133mm). Woodcut phoenix device on title. (Outer margin of A2 shaved affecting a few letters.) Red morocco gilt by Sangorski and Sutcliffe. Sale : Sotheby’s London, 21-22 July 1983, lot 156. FIRST AND ONLY EDITION of this verse satire, a reply to [Jonathan Smedley] A Familiar Epistle to his Excellency Charles Earl of Sunderland . Swift’s authorship of the 7-page pamphlet is not certain. Herbert Davis, in a loosely inserted copy of a typed letter, Oxford, 31 January 1967 [evidently to Peter Murray Hill], comments: “I have found the text of the Answer , by itself, quite unreadable, and such nonsense that I could not believe that Swift had anything to do with it … But when you read the two pieces together and note the burlesquing of Smedley’s words and phrases, you can’t help being reminded of the tricks Swift plays upon him in His Grace ’ s Answer to Jonathan … I would therefore agree that the verses may well be attributed to Swift.” Foxon (not attributing the piece to Swift) observes that the “The possibility of Swift’s authorship is suggested in Murray Hill cat. 109 (1969) 46,” which in turn quotes from Herbert Davis's letter. RARE . ESTC locates only two copies (BL and Princeton). Foxon F53.