The most popular object in Armagh Robinson Library is Jonathan Swift’s own copy of Travels Into Several Remote Nations of the World. In Four Parts. By Lemuel Gulliver […] better known as Gulliver’s Travels.

Published in London in 1726 by Benjamin Motte, Swift discovered that his publisher had changed words and phrases without his knowledge. Swift had used many of those phrases to criticise important people and institutions of the day. He made changes to the text in this 1726 copy to prepare for a second publication.

Exhibition

Armagh Robinson Library will have an exhibition from its own book collection to highlight the 300th anniversary of the first edition.  It will explore the work as a commentary on 18th century society, politics, science, education and human nature.  It will also take into consideration the pitfalls of the publishing process at the time and the consequences of Swift’s actions. The exhibition will run from mid-July to December 2026.

Lecture Series

To coincide with the anniversary, Armagh Robinson Library will also host three lectures:

Wednesday 28 October 2026 (date of the publication of Gulliver’s Travels): Professor Ian Campbell Ross (Professor Emeritus, Trinity College Dublin).

Lecture Title: ‘Gulliver’s Travels in its contemporary moment’ (1726).

Thursday 12 November 2026: Professor Moyra Haslett, Queen’s University Belfast.

Lecture Title:  ‘The Armagh Gulliver’

Thursday 26 November 2026 (Annual Rokeby Lecture): Professor Brean Hammond, Emeritus Professor, University of Nottingham).

Lecture Title: ‘Gulliver’s Travels now’.