This week Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift turned 300. Published on the 28th of October 1726, the tale of the hapless adventurer, Lemuel Gulliver, and his travels among the lands of giants, floating islands, and talking horses have entertained audiences for centuries.
The University of Liverpool has launched a digital exhibition, Gulliver’s Travels: Before and Beyond, to mark the book’s tercentenary. The exhibition uses items from the University’s Special Collections and Archives and was curated by a team of colleagues across the Department of English and the Cultural Heritage Service.
The exhibition places the book within an expansive timeline split into three sections that draw out its rich history and enduring legacy. The first section explores the literary and scientific texts that came to influence Swift’s unique vision, from Homer’s giants in the Odyssey to the tiny world opened up by the invention of the microscope in Robert Hooke’s Micrographia (1665). The second section examines the immediate historical and political environment that Swift satirised in Gulliver’s Travels. The third section looks at the productive influence of Gulliver’s Travels on the development of the wonderful worlds of science fiction.
You can explore the exhibition here: Gulliver’s Travels: Before and Beyond – University of Liverpool Digital Heritage Lab
