Gulliver's Travels – Jonathan Swift (Illustrated by Arthur Rackham – Temple Press, 1937)

This Temple Press edition (1937) with coloured illustrations by Arthur Rackham is of interest to collectors of Arthur Rackham illustrated books, Jonathan Swift, and early 20th century gift book editions.

About: A good-plus copy in the original bright blue cloth, no dust jacket. Boards clean and vivid with minor scuffing to extremities and two small marks to the rear panel; spine lettering clear with slight wear to head. Text block toned at page edges as expected for the period; colour plates present and clean throughout, including the striking Rackham frontispiece of Gulliver released from the strings. A handsome and presentable copy of this sought-after illustrated edition.

Details:

• Title: Gulliver's Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World
• Author: Jonathan Swift
• Publisher: The Temple Press, London
• Publication Date: 1937
• Edition: Temple Press reprint with Rackham colour illustrations
• Binding: Hardcover, original blue cloth
• Illustrator: Arthur Rackham (colour plates throughout)
• Condition: Good+
• Dust Jacket Condition: None present

Synopsis: Temple Press reprint of Swift's satirical masterpiece, illustrated throughout with Arthur Rackham's celebrated colour plates. A desirable copy for Rackham collectors and admirers of the great Edwardian gift book tradition.

Review: Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels (1726) is one of the great works of English literature: a savage satirical fantasy in which ship's surgeon Lemuel Gulliver voyages to the lands of the tiny Lilliputians, the giant Brobdingnagians, the philosophers of Laputa, and the rational Houyhnhnms. Arthur Rackham's illustrations, first produced for the 1909 Dent edition, are among his finest work, combining meticulous draughtsmanship with a characteristic sense of the grotesque and the fantastical. This Temple Press reprint makes those celebrated images available in a sturdy and attractive format.