# Is "A Tale of a Tub" by Jonathan Swift a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of A Tale of a Tub by Jonathan Swift (Printed for John Nutt, London, 1704) is identified by: 186 x 116 mm), collation [xii], 322 pp. The London 1704 Nutt edition is the true first and the census claim is confirmed, including that the first appeared anonymously and with The Battle of the Books.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- 186 x 116 mm), collation [xii], 322 pp
- References: Teerink-Scouten 217
- Rothschild 1992
- Published anonymously on 10 May 1704
- John Nutt was a trade publisher who lent his imprint to obscure Swift's authorship, the actual printer being Benjamin Tooke Jr
- Critical caution: the second and third editions also appeared in 1704 and also under the Nutt imprint, so the 1704 date and the Nutt imprint alone do not establish a first — the second is a resetting of the type and the third a corrected reprint of the second
- Publisher imprint reads Printed for John Nutt, London

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Jonathan Swift |
| Publisher | Printed for John Nutt, London |
| Year | 1704 |
| True first | UK edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | 186 x 116 mm), collation [xii], 322 pp |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## Points of issue
Octavo (c. 186 x 116 mm), collation [xii], 322 pp. References: Teerink-Scouten 217; Rothschild 1992. Published anonymously on 10 May 1704; John Nutt was a trade publisher who lent his imprint to obscure Swift's authorship, the actual printer being Benjamin Tooke Jr. Critical caution: the second and third editions also appeared in 1704 and also under the Nutt imprint, so the 1704 date and the Nutt imprint alone do not establish a first — the second is a resetting of the type and the third a corrected reprint of the second. The decisive first-printing textual point is on page 320, which in the uncorrected first state has a blank space at line 10 after 'furor' where the word 'uterinus' was inserted in later printings; a scarce variant with stars printed in that gap is recorded. Complete copies retain the initial advertisement leaf 'Treatises writ by the same Author' and the terminal blank. The Battle of the Books and A Discourse concerning the Mechanical Operation of the Spirit each have a separate dated title-page, but pagination and register run continuously through the volume — a disjunct or separately paginated section indicates a made-up copy. No jacket applies.

## Is this the true first?
The London 1704 Nutt edition is the true first and the census claim is confirmed, including that the first appeared anonymously and with The Battle of the Books. There is no UK/US or original-language precedence question. The census is also right that the 1710 fifth edition is collected, but it is a first-thus: it adds Swift's 'An Apology For the &c.' and the notes and carries substantial changes, and must not be described as a first edition. A corrected fourth edition intervened in 1705.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
No book-club issues apply at this date. The reprint tells that matter are the second and third editions of 1704 sharing the first's date and Nutt imprint, the corrected fourth of 1705, and the fifth of 1710. A separate confusion to guard against is Edmund Curll's A Complete Key to the Tale of a Tub, one of several imitations and unofficial continuations that flooded the market between 1705 and 1710; it is a different work by a different hand and is not any edition of the Tale.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *A Tale of a Tub* by Jonathan Swift a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/a-tale-of-a-tub
CC BY 4.0. Part of the Canonical First-Edition Points of Issue dataset (https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/api/first-edition-titles.json). Last reviewed 2026-07-04.