[SWIFT, JONATHAN]. A Tale of a Tub: Written for the Universal Improvement of Mankind. To Which is Added, an Account of a Battel Between the Antient and Modern Books in St. James's Library. [London?], Anno M.DCC.XI. [1711].
[Bound together with]:
[ANON]. A Complete Key to The Tale of a Tub. London: Printed in the Year M.DCC.XIV [1714].
EARLY REPRINTS. Three works as issued in one volume plus a key to Tale of a Tub [four works in total], leather-bound, hardcover, duodecimo (16cm x 9cm x 2.5cm), pp. 310; 36. English text with illustrations. Handsomely bound in later straight grain morocco gilt by Hatchards; frontispiece preceding first two titles, and plates after pages 44, 62, 112, 128, 172, 206; with two blank leaves (M2 and N12). Condition: VERY GOOD. Binding very well-preserved. Contents complete, bearing some foxing and deckling to page edges, but generally bright, with an armorial bookplate to front pastedown.
Notes: The first of the four small duodecimo editions of 1711 which includes: ’A discourse concerning the mechanical operation of the spirit'. Additionally, bound in at the rear is the 1714 third edition of 'A Complete Key to The Tale of a Tub'. Each part has a separate title-page. The 'Key' has a separate pagination and register. An uncommon edition of Swift's famous satire on religious dogmatism. It is said that he remarked in his old age "God, what a genius I had when I wrote that book!"
