[Map of Lilliput and Blefuscu]

Mapping Gulliver’s Travels.

This somewhat basic copperplate-engraved map provides a rudimentary overview of the islands of Lilliput and Blefuscu, located in the Southern Indian Ocean and visited by Lemuel Gulliver during his fantastical voyages. Nearby toponyms identify real places like Sumatra and the Straits of Sunda, adding a veneer of believability to the regional geography. Allegedly discovered in 1699, the rival islands were home to tiny inhabitants about 1/12 the size of a normal human, though their endless civil and political complexities (intended to mock modern Britain and France) were certainly fully realized.

Gulliver’s Travels, written by Jonathan Swift and first published in 1726, is a satirical novel that follows the epic travels of Lemuel Gulliver to whimsical (and sometimes dangerous) lands such as Lilliput, Brobdingnag, Laputa, and the country of the Houyhnhnms. Beneath the amusing, adventurous narrative, Swift used the story to satirise human pride, social structure, and the exaggerations of popular travel tales. The book was an immediate success and has been adapted to a variety of media, including theatrical performances, films, television, and radio.

This example of the map of Brobdingnag was rescued from a broken and worm-eaten copy of The Works of Dr. Jonathan Swift Volume II, published in London in 1768. Printed on Fleet Street for C. Bathurst. The map is accompanied by a print, engraved by Johann Sebastian Müller, that shows Gulliver towering over the Lilliputians.