A Bibliography of the Writings of Jonathan Swift

Book excerpt: This work is an analytic bibliography of the writings of Jonathan Swift, containing a listing of every known edition or issue of Swift's work down to the year 1814 (except for the section "Biography and Criticism" which extends from 1709 to 1895). In this revised edition, Herman Teerink has added full collations of the works referred to. In addition, the titles of many 18th century mutations or parodies of Swift have been included together with works which allude to Swift or his writings. Arthur H. Scouten, a University of Pennsylvania professor of English and author of many bibliographical articles on Swift, who has carried on Dr. Teerink's work and prepared this volume for press, has consulted 18th century scholars and bibliographers. With their advice, he has kept the original Teerink numbers, since they are the common reference numbers among Swift scholars and are listed in dealers' catalogues. Because the new material and arrangement put these numbers out of order, they have been listed in a table at the beginning of the book with all the pages they appear on. So that they will not have to be sought throughout the entire volume, all the Faulkner editions have been placed together and all the printings of Gulliver's Travels have been collected in one section, where they are arranged chronologically by country. A full physical description of all important books and pamphlets, including those discovered since 1937 (the first edition), has been provided. The work has been brought up-to-date with the bibliographical findings of Swift scholarship of the past twenty-five years. A number of pieces apocryphally attributed to Swift have been deleted or placed in the "Doubtful" section. Finally, entries of books and pamphlets containing contemporary comment on a work by Swift have been placed where Swift's work itself is entered. This book is especially rich in its listings of translations of Swift's works into foreign languages. Also, since the first edition (A Bibliography of the Writings in Prose and Verse of Jonathan Swift, D.D.) has long been out of print, this volume will be invaluable to book dealers, bibliophiles, and scholars, teachers, and students of English literature.