Armagh Robinson Library marks 300th anniversary of Gulliver's Travels with lecture by Ian Campbell Ross
The lecture, delivered by one of Ireland's leading eighteenth-century scholars, forms part of a wider programme marking three centuries since the publication of one of the most influential works in English literature
Armagh Robinson Library will continue its programme celebrating the 300th anniversary of Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels with a lecture by one of Ireland's leading eighteenth-century scholars.
On Wednesday, October 28, 2026, exactly 300 years after the book's publication, Ian Campbell Ross will deliver a talk entitled Swift and the Vexed Publication of Gulliver's Travels, 1726-1735.
Professor Ross, Emeritus Professor of Eighteenth-Century Studies and Fellow Emeritus at Trinity College Dublin, has written extensively on authors including Laurence Sterne, Tobias Smollett, Oliver Goldsmith and Jonathan Swift. He also co-curated the Gulliver at 300 exhibition currently on display in Trinity College Dublin's Long Room.
Speaking ahead of the event, Professor Ross said: "Gulliver's Travels is among the most famous, widely-read books in world literature and one that has certainly succeeded, as Swift intended, in vexing many of its readers over three centuries."
He explained that the lecture will examine Swift's efforts to conceal his identity when the satirical work was first published in 1726, as well as his attempts over the following decade to ensure the book appeared in a version he approved of.
Professor Ross also highlighted a remark made by Swift in a letter to Alexander Pope, in which the author said "the chief end I propose to myself in all my labours is to vex the world rather than divert it."
Carol Conlin, Assistant Keeper of Armagh Robinson Library, said the lecture series is being organised in association with the Centre for Eighteenth-Century Studies at Queen's University Belfast.
"We are most grateful for this support and wish to thank in particular Professor Moyra Haslett, the Coordinator for the Library's Memorandum of Understanding with Queen's University Belfast," she said.
She added that Professor Haslett will deliver the next lecture in the series on Thursday, November 12, 2026.
The lecture takes place at Armagh Robinson Library and forms part of a wider programme marking three centuries since the publication of one of the most influential works in English literature