SOURCE: "The Geography and Chronology of Gulliver's Travels," in Four Essays on "Gulliver's Travels, " Peter Smith, 1958, pp. 50-67.

In the following essay, first published in 1945 and reprinted in 1958, Case argues that many of the geographical and chronological inconsistencies in Gulliver's Travels are not due to Swift's carelessness, but instead are attributable to engraving and printing errors that remained uncorrected in later editions.

Surprisingly little attention has been paid by editors and commentators to the geography and chronology of Gulliver's Travels. Sir Henry Craik, in his Selections from Swift, found the geography worth a fairly extended passage,¹ Mr. G. R. Dennis, in his edition of Gulliver,² commented on some of the cruces, and Mr. Harold Williams devoted some space in the introduction of his edition to a discussion of the maps.³ Mr. Williams also provided his readers with the most satisfactory commentary we possess on the difficulties and inconsistencies...