A Tale of a Tub and Other Works (1704)

by Jonathan Swift

Members	Reviews	Popularity	Average rating	Mentions
385	4	66,884	(3.19)	6
This volume contains the three works which together make up Jonathan Swift's early satiric and intellectual masterpiece, A Tale of a Tub: the Tale itself, The Battel of the Books, and The Mechanical Operation of the Spirit. Incorporating much new knowledge, this 2010 edition provides the first full scholarly treatment of this important work for fifty years. The introduction discusses publication, composition, and authorship; sources, analogues and generic models; reception; and religious, scientific and literary contexts (including the ancients and moderns controversy). Detailed explanatory notes address many previously unexplained issues in this famously rich and difficult work. Texts have been fully collated and edited according to modern principles and are accompanied with a textual introduction and full textual apparatus. Illustrations include title pages, the eight engravings from the fifth edition, and original designs for these engravings. Extensive associated contemporary materials, including Edmund Curll's Key and William Wotton's Observations, are provided.… (more)

all members

▾Members

Recently added by	evangelinabriggs, RindEM, harrisoncotis, OrinocoBooks, BelbedianLibrary, Elanna76, Bekahs77, brakketh, KatieHLSPHX, blessed_library
Legacy Libraries	Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas

▾Tags

▾LibraryThing Recommendations

▾Lists

The Guardian's 1000 Novels Everyone Must Read (792)

50 Tough Books for Extreme Readers (54)

▾Will you like it?

▾Conversations (About links)

No current Talk conversations about this book.

» See also 6 mentions

▾Member reviews

date ▼ | votes

Showing 4 of 4

Well-known book but not easy. Clever defence of Anglicanism/Lutheranism against Catholicism and Calvinism through analogy. Full of obscure references which require a detailed knowledge of the historical period. What the tub is I did not gather.

jgoodwll | Jan 29, 2019 |

Jonathan Swift is a brilliant satirist and if I was a contemporary of Swift's or aware of the issues he was mocking, then I might have enjoyed this book. Instead, this short book is filled with long digressions mocking organized religion or possibly government. I have to admit that about half way through I was completely lost and really not following his mockery.

If I had been reading this book in print, I would have saved my place with a bookmark and put it back on the shelf to revisit later, maybe after I learned more about the times. But this was a book that I had subscribed to through Daily Lit, which sends installments every day via email. This is the 2nd book that I've tried this way and I have to say that I don't think this format of reading works for me. The installments are all the same length so sometimes I found myself wanting to read more, or wanting to walk away and then return to the book. But once I was half way through a LONG email, I felt like I had to finish it and it was more like slogging through required reading vs. reading for pleasure. (

)

jmoncton | Jun 3, 2013 |

Swift's Tale of a Tub may not be as well known as Gulliver's Travels, but it is perhaps his signature work. The Tale is a rambling, frequently scathing satire directed at Catholics, Calvinists, Authors, Critics, and a host of leading intellectuals of Swift's day. It has moments that are very funny, and finds some pretty inventive ways to skewer its targets. Much of it is targeted at people and issues that have long since been forgotten, making it somewhat unaccessable to the modern reader. The appended Battle of the Books is short, accessible, and pretty funny. (

)

clong | Dec 31, 2007 |

Jonathan Swift ; edited with an introduction by Angus Ross and David Woolley

BlessedHopeAcademy | Sep 21, 2008 |

date ▼ | votes

Showing 4 of 4

▾Published reviews

no reviews | add a review

▾Other authors

» Add other authors (13 possible)

▾Series and work relationships

Belongs to Publisher Series

Oxford World's Classics

Contains

A Tale of A Tub by Jonathan Swift

The Battle of the Books by Jonathan Swift

▾Awards and Honors

Notable Lists

Are these the greatest books ever written?

The Guardian 1000 Novels Everyone Must Read (Comedy)

view history

▾Common Knowledge

You must log in to edit Common Knowledge data.

For more help see the Common Knowledge help page.

Canonical title

A Tale of a Tub and Other Works

Original title

Alternative titles

Original publication date

1704

People/Characters

Important places

Important events

Related movies

Epigraph

Dedication

To
Hermann Real and Heinz Vienken
and to the memory of
Irvin Ehrenpreis

First words

The present volume contains the contents of the volume which Swift himself first published early in 1704, namely, A Tale of a Tub, A Full and True Account of the Battle of the Books, and A Discourse of the Mechanical Operation of the Spirit, A Fragment. (Introduction)

The wits of the present age being so very numerous and penetrating, it seems the grandees of Church and State begin to fall under horrible apprehensions lest these gentlemen, during the intervals of a long peace, should find leisure to pick holes in the weak sides of Religion and Government. (Preface)

Whoever hath an ambition to be heard in a crowd must press, and squeeze, and thrust, and climb, with indefatigable pains, till he has exalted himself to a certain degree of altitude above them. (A Tale of a Tub)

Quotations

Last words

(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)

Disambiguation notice

Publisher's editors

Blurbers

Johnson, Samuel

Original language

Canonical DDC/MDS

Canonical LCC

▾References

References to this work on external resources.

Wikipedia in English (2)

John Morphew

Paul Lorrain

▾Book descriptions

This volume contains the three works which together make up Jonathan Swift's early satiric and intellectual masterpiece, A Tale of a Tub: the Tale itself, The Battel of the Books, and The Mechanical Operation of the Spirit. Incorporating much new knowledge, this 2010 edition provides the first full scholarly treatment of this important work for fifty years. The introduction discusses publication, composition, and authorship; sources, analogues and generic models; reception; and religious, scientific and literary contexts (including the ancients and moderns controversy). Detailed explanatory notes address many previously unexplained issues in this famously rich and difficult work. Texts have been fully collated and edited according to modern principles and are accompanied with a textual introduction and full textual apparatus. Illustrations include title pages, the eight engravings from the fifth edition, and original designs for these engravings. Extensive associated contemporary materials, including Edmund Curll's Key and William Wotton's Observations, are provided.

▾Library descriptions

No library descriptions found.

▾LibraryThing members' description

Book description

Haiku summary