Jonathan Swift, Gulliver’s Travels into Lilliput and Brobdingnag; illustrated by Jean de Bosschère, Dodd, Mead / William Heinemann, undated title page
Lilliput in Gulliver's Travels
Gulliver reaches Lilliput after the Antelope is wrecked and he swims ashore. He wakes with his arms, legs and hair bound down, while people less than six inches tall approach his face. The disparity in size initially turns a meeting into a struggle: his movements frighten the inhabitants, and their arrows force him to lie still. Yet the kingdom is capable of feeding and transporting its visitor. Ladders carry provisions to his mouth, small barrels supply his drink, and carpenters and engineers prepare a machine on twenty-two wheels. Its officers act in the emperor's name, bringing Gulliver towards the capital as a prisoner despite his enormous strength. An ancient temple, no longer used for worship, becomes his lodging, with chains fastened to one leg. Once he stands, the country appears to him like a garden, its fields resembling flower beds and its town a painted stage scene. These opening encounters make Lilliput a place of conflicting scales: visually small and apparently fragile, it can organise labour, force and ceremony around a man who towers over it.
Loading your archive…
In the sources
A drastic difference in scale
DocumentedThe first inhabitant Gulliver sees is less than six inches tall. When he stands, the country's fields look like flower beds and its town like a painted scene in a theatre.
Organisation under the emperor
DocumentedOfficials decide that Gulliver will be carried as a prisoner. Carpenters and engineers build a wheeled machine, and the journey ends at a temple fitted with chains for his lodging.
Context & interpretation
Lilliput as encountered in complete Part I Chapter I and the opening prose page of Chapter II, printed pp. 1–12 of the existing Bosschère-illustrated two-voyage edition. Later political episodes and the voyage to Brobdingnag have not been reviewed for this entry.
Original passages
Source 1
Gulliver's Travels into Lilliput and Brobdingnag
a human creature not six inches highOpen this page in the book
Passage & edition details
Location recorded at citation review: Gulliver’s Travels, Part I, printed p. 4
Exact cleared Reader page visually inspected. Complete Part I Chapter I and opening prose page of Chapter II reviewed. Documents a fictional portrayal; later episodes and actual geographic identification are outside scope.
- Edition
- IMJ-0262-E001
- Reader page
- IMJ-0262-E001-P0010
- Original scan leaf
- 20
- Recorded leaf number
- 20
- Current Reader position
- 11
- Reader verification
- Matches the reviewed Reader
Source 2
Gulliver's Travels into Lilliput and Brobdingnag
I should be carried as a prisonerOpen this page in the book
Passage & edition details
Location recorded at citation review: Gulliver’s Travels, Part I, printed p. 8
Exact cleared Reader page visually inspected. Complete Part I Chapter I and opening prose page of Chapter II reviewed. Documents a fictional portrayal; later episodes and actual geographic identification are outside scope.
- Edition
- IMJ-0262-E001
- Reader page
- IMJ-0262-E001-P0014
- Original scan leaf
- 24
- Recorded leaf number
- 24
- Current Reader position
- 15
- Reader verification
- Matches the reviewed Reader
Source 3
Gulliver's Travels into Lilliput and Brobdingnag
a frame of wood raised three inches from the groundOpen this page in the book
Passage & edition details
Location recorded at citation review: Gulliver’s Travels, Part I, printed p. 9
Exact cleared Reader page visually inspected. Complete Part I Chapter I and opening prose page of Chapter II reviewed. Documents a fictional portrayal; later episodes and actual geographic identification are outside scope.
- Edition
- IMJ-0262-E001
- Reader page
- IMJ-0262-E001-P0015
- Original scan leaf
- 25
- Recorded leaf number
- 25
- Current Reader position
- 16
- Reader verification
- Matches the reviewed Reader
Source 4
Gulliver's Travels into Lilliput and Brobdingnag
four-score and eleven chainsOpen this page in the book
Passage & edition details
Location recorded at citation review: Gulliver’s Travels, Part I, printed p. 11
Exact cleared Reader page visually inspected. Complete Part I Chapter I and opening prose page of Chapter II reviewed. Documents a fictional portrayal; later episodes and actual geographic identification are outside scope.
- Edition
- IMJ-0262-E001
- Reader page
- IMJ-0262-E001-P0017
- Original scan leaf
- 27
- Recorded leaf number
- 27
- Current Reader position
- 18
- Reader verification
- Matches the reviewed Reader
Source 5
Gulliver's Travels into Lilliput and Brobdingnag
appeared like a continued gardenOpen this page in the book
Passage & edition details
Location recorded at citation review: Gulliver’s Travels, Part I, printed p. 12
Exact cleared Reader page visually inspected. Complete Part I Chapter I and opening prose page of Chapter II reviewed. Documents a fictional portrayal; later episodes and actual geographic identification are outside scope.
- Edition
- IMJ-0262-E001
- Reader page
- IMJ-0262-E001-P0018
- Original scan leaf
- 28
- Recorded leaf number
- 28
- Current Reader position
- 19
- Reader verification
- Matches the reviewed Reader
