Residents and visitors will have the chance to hear the hidden story behind one of the best-known works in English literature when Armagh Robinson Library hosts a lecture on Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels this autumn.
Gulliver Amongst Friends will take place at Armagh Robinson Library on Wednesday 21 October 2026, from 7.30pm to 9pm. Admission is free, but booking is essential.
A lecture about Swift, Pope and Gay
The lecture will be delivered by writer Hester Grant, whose work specialises in the eighteenth century. Her talk will focus on the relationships and events surrounding Swift’s journey from Dublin to London in March 1726, when he carried the manuscript of Gulliver’s Travels in his baggage.
Swift spent that summer with his close friends Alexander Pope and John Gay at Pope’s villa on the Thames in Twickenham. The programme of their time together included walks through Pope’s garden and grotto, boating downriver to see the newly built Marble Hill, and planning the clandestine publication of Swift’s book.
Grant’s lecture will also examine how the reunion affected Pope and Gay, as well as how Swift’s manuscript received its final amendments. The account will follow the writing of the work and the secret publication process that was required because of its “explosive satire”.
Rare Swift material in the library collection
Armagh Robinson Library’s keeper, the Very Revd Shane Forster, said the venue holds a particularly significant connection to the subject. The library’s collection includes the first edition of Gulliver’s Travels with handwritten notes by Jonathan Swift.
The lecture forms part of events marking the 300th anniversary of the publication of Swift’s work. The library says the evening will open up the relationships, context and circumstances surrounding the publication of a major piece of literature.
Grant’s first book, The Good Sharps, a biography of an eighteenth-century family, was published by Chatto & Windus in 2020. Her second book, The Twitnam Summer, was published by Harper Collins earlier this year to coincide with the special anniversary of Gulliver’s Travels.
Copies of The Twitnam Summer will be available to buy after the lecture for £25.
How to book
Places must be booked in advance through Armagh Robinson Library. To reserve a place, email [email protected] or call 028 37523142.