Swift foretold very accurately the great vogue that
_Gulliver's Travels_ would have. In writing to Arbuthnot he
said: "I will make over all my profits (in a certain work)
for the property of _Gulliver's Travels_ which, I believe,
will have as great a run as John Bunyan." The success of the
book when issued anonymously in November, 1726, was enormous.
Swift derived his chief satisfaction from the fact that he
had hoodwinked many readers. Arbuthnot told of an
acquaintance who had tried to locate Lilliput on a map and
another told him of a shipmaster who had known Gulliver well.
Many editions of the book were called for in England, and in
France it had a great success and was dramatized.
A large paper copy of the first edition, with Swift's
corrections on the margin, which appeared in later editions,
is now in the South Kensington Museum. It shows how carefully
Swift revised the work, as the changes are numerous. Toward
the close of 1726 the work was reissued, with a second
volume. In 1727 appeared the first new edition of both
volumes. Swift's changes were mainly in "Laputa," which had
been severely criticized. On Dec. 28, 1727, Swift in a letter
suggests illustrations for the new edition and says of the
book: "The world glutted itself with that book at first, but
now it will go off but soberly, but I suppose will not be
soon worn out."
A Dublin edition of 1735 contained many corrections and it
also included a "Letter from Gulliver to his cousin Simpson,"
a device of Swift to mystify the public and make it believe
in the genuineness of Gulliver.
The best life of Swift is in two volumes, by Henry Craik (New
York: The Macmillan Company, 1894). The best short life is by
Leslie Stephen in the _English Men of Letters Series_.