Shop securely with PayTo on Amazon. Direct payments from your trusted bank. No card details required.
See All Buying Options
Kindle app logo image

Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet or computer—no Kindle device required.

Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.

Using your mobile phone camera, scan the code below and download the Kindle app.

QR code to download the Kindle App

Follow the authors

Jonathan Swift
Follow
Paper Mill Press
Follow
Something went wrong. Please try your request again later.

Gulliver's Travels Pocket Book – 12 September 2008

by Swift (Author)
4.2 out of 5 stars 6,045 ratings
Edition: New
'Thus, gentle Reader, I have given thee a faithful History of my Travels for Sixteen Years, and above Seven Months; wherein I have not been so studious of Ornament as of Truth.' In these words Gulliver represents himself as a reliable reporter of the fantastic adventures he has just set down; but how far can we rely on a narrator whose identity is elusive and whoses inventiveness is self-evident? Gulliver's Travels purports to be a travel book, and describes Gulliver's encounters with the inhabitants of four extraordinary places: Lilliput, Brobdingnag, Laputa, and the country of the Houyhnhnms. A consummately skilful blend of fantasy and realism makes Gulliver's Travels by turns hilarious, frightening, and profound. Swift plays tricks on us, and delivers one of the world's most disturbing satires of the human condition. This new edition includes the changing frontispiece portraits of Gulliver that appeared in successive early editions. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.
Read more
  Report an issue with this product
Previous slide of product details
  1. ISBN-10
    0199536848
  2. ISBN-13
    978-0199536849
  3. Edition
    New
  4. Publisher
    Oxford University Press UK
  5. Publication date
    12 September 2008
  6. Language
    English
  7. Dimensions
    19.56 x 2.03 x 12.95 cm
  8. Print length
    432 pages
Next slide of product details

Product description

From the Publisher

Claude Rawson and Ian Higgins are General Editors of the Cambridge Edition of the Works of Jonathan Swift in 16 volumes. Claude Rawson has written widely about satire and the Augustan period. He has edited Fielding's Jonathan Wild for OWC and is the author of God, Gulliver, and Genocide: Barbarism and the European Imagination 1492-1945 (OUP, 2001).

About the Author

Claude Rawson and Ian Higgins are General Editors of the Cambridge Edition of the Works of Jonathan Swift in 16 volumes. Claude Rawson has written widely about satire and the Augustan period. He has edited Fielding's Jonathan Wild for OWC and is the author of God, Gulliver, and Genocide: Barbarism and the European Imagination 1492-1945 (OUP, 2001).

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Oxford University Press UK; New edition (12 September 2008)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Pocket Book ‏ : ‎ 432 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0199536848
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0199536849
  • Reading age ‏ : ‎ 10 years and up
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 19.56 x 2.03 x 12.95 cm
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.2 out of 5 stars 6,045 ratings

About the authors

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.
Previous page
  1. Jonathan Swift

    Jonathan Swift

    Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.
    Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

    Born in 1667, Jonathan Swift was an Irish writer and cleric, best known for his works Gulliver s Travels, A Modest Proposal, and A Journal to Stella, amongst many others. Educated at Trinity College in Dublin, Swift received his Doctor of Divinity in February 1702, and eventually became Dean of St. Patrick s Cathedral in Dublin. Publishing under the names of Lemeul Gulliver, Isaac Bickerstaff, and M. B. Drapier, Swift was a prolific writer who, in addition to his prose works, composed poetry, essays, and political pamphlets for both the Whigs and the Tories, and is considered to be one of the foremost English-language satirists, mastering both the Horatian and Juvenalian styles. Swift died in 1745, leaving the bulk of his fortune to found St. Patrick s Hospital for Imbeciles, a hospital for the mentally ill, which continues to operate as a psychiatric hospital today.

    Jonathan Swift(1667 1745), a poet, satirist, and clergyman, published many satirical works, among them A Modest Proposal. Robert DeMaria, Jr. is Henry Noble McCracken Professor of English at Vassar College. He has published widely on seventeenth- and eighteenth-century literature.

    See more on the author's page
  2. Paper Mill Press

    Paper Mill Press

    Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.
    Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

    Paper Mill Press is proud to present a timeless collection of unabridged literary classics to a twenty-first century audience. Each original master work is reimagined into a sophisticated yet modern format with custom suede-like metallic foiled covers.

    See more on the author's page
Next page

Customer reviews

4.2 out of 5 stars
6,045 global ratings

Review this product

Share your thoughts with other customers
Write a customer review

Top reviews from Australia

  • Desmond
    5.0 out of 5 stars Gulliver
    Reviewed in Australia on 26 June 2023
    Verified Purchase
    Good
    Helpful
     Report
  • Jeff
    5.0 out of 5 stars So good!
    Reviewed in Australia on 6 March 2020
    Verified Purchase
    As pertinent today as when it was written
    Helpful
     Report
  • Ian McDougall
    3.0 out of 5 stars but never the less a good
    Reviewed in Australia on 2 June 2015
    Verified Purchase
    The dated terminology made it difficult to follow at times, but never the less a good read
    Helpful
     Report
  • Cad Bane
    5.0 out of 5 stars A great read!
    Reviewed in Australia on 7 April 2017
    Verified Purchase
    Cracking book!
    Helpful
     Report

Top reviews from other countries

Translate all reviews to English
  • lucas
    5.0 out of 5 stars Estimula reflexões sobre a sociedade. Não é cativante
    Reviewed in Brazil on 21 February 2023
    Verified Purchase
    A historia te faz refletir sobre sua posição na sociedade/natureza abordando diferentes óticas.
    Não é tão emocionante, mas reflexiva.
    Livro em ótimo estado.
    Report
  • yvba
    5.0 out of 5 stars Livre très bien agencé ( introduction, les voyages, le lexique )
    Reviewed in France on 12 April 2021
    Verified Purchase
    C'est un des romans classiques anglais.
    Ce livre est de la collection Oxford World's Classic.
    Je l'avais lu en français. Je le lis en anglais et j'en tire beaucoup plus d'avantage. Parce que je suis plus attentif.
    Report
  • V. N. Dvornychenko
    5.0 out of 5 stars observations on a great classic
    Reviewed in the United States on 8 April 2009
    Verified Purchase
    Gulliver's Travels is such a great classic that it is difficult to write any sort of regular review. So instead I have compiled a list of observations.
    Isaac Asimov, the distinguished writer, scientist, and Sci-fi buff, speculates that the made-up languages in Gulliver's Travels are basically nonsense; then he turns around and speculates that Lilliput is a corruption of "little bit". Good guess! - but maybe it's "little part" or "little pint"? Asimov also gives a other cases where highly plausible decipherments can be made.
    Interestingly, Swift's made-up languages often have a definite Italian ring. Swift himself says so much when commenting on the language of Laputa. Did Swift have a particularly admiration for Italian? Did he study it?
    It is usually assumed that most events and characters in Gulliver are veiled satires on England, and its misrule of Ireland. Perhaps. But maybe Swift was also poking fun at the Italian states. The "good old days" for which Swift pined may then be those of the Roman empire.
    It is often claimed that the fourth book is the best, and the third book the weakest. I disagree! Possibly from a purely stylistic standpoint the fourth book, on the horse-people, IS the best. But this is not enough to make it the most interesting. The Houyhnhnms represent Swift's idea of purely rational, benign beings. They don't lie, and have virtually no crime. But frankly, they are boring! They appear to have neither dreams nor aspirations, and little imagination. They spend much of their time in busy-work - apparently so as to stay out of trouble, in the manner of certain monastic orders. Perhaps the real trouble is that humans have a limited capacity for imagining perfect goodness. Look at the divine comedy triptych painted by Bosch. Which is the most interesting panel? The one on heaven? I don't think so!
    The third book (the one about the flying island of Laputa) contains a wealth of ideas - even if hastily written. Asimov points out that, unlike the other books, in the third book Swift takes considerable pains to explain "the marvelous" in scientific terms -- at least to the extent such explanations are possible. This is a hallmark of science fiction, as opposed to fantasy. A strong case can be made for Swift as the first true sci-fi writer. Consider, for example, his amazingly prophetic description of the two moons of Mars.
    Here is another example of Swifts amazing prescience. It is from Laputa, and illustrates the major concerns of Laputa's scientists:
    "These people are under continual Disquietudes, never enjoying a minutes Peace of Mind; and their disturbances proceed from causes which very little effect the rest of Mortals. ... That, the Earth very narrowly escaped a Brush from the last Comet, which would have infallibly reduced it to Ashes; and that the next, which they have calculated for One and Thirty years hence, will probably destroy us."
    Don't we incessantly hear about the grave dangers comets and asteroids pose to us?
    Report
  • Anton
    5.0 out of 5 stars Es mucho más divertida la novela que cualquier película o dibujos animados que hayas visto...
    Reviewed in Spain on 4 April 2014
    Verified Purchase
    Quien esté en "upper-intermediate" probablemente encontrará dificultades con el vocabulario, pues tendrá que tirar de diccionario a menudo... aparte de ello (y del segundo prólogo, que firma un tal Sr. Gulliver, que es rarito rarito, supongo que porque usa intencionadamente un lenguaje enrevesado propio de las 'formalidades' de la época), es una delicia leer este clásico. Muy recomendable
    Report
  • sally fritter
    5.0 out of 5 stars Loved the book
    Reviewed in Canada on 4 May 2023
    Verified Purchase
    What great read!!
    Report