A Preface to the B——p of S–r–m's Introduction to the Third Volume of the History of the Reformation of the Church of England. By Gregory Misosarum

London: John Morphew, 1713. First edition. 56 pp. 8vo. Disbound. In custom gray card folder with title label. First edition. 56 pp. 8vo. First edition of Swift's reply to Gilbert Burnet's Introduction to volume 3 of his History of the Reformation. Burnet painted Popery as the deadliest of evils, and suggested that only Whig bishops, such as himself, could resist it. Swift, having switched to the Tory cause just a few years before, "makes the church his real theme [and] abandons impersonation; and if there are some playful fantasies and much sarcasm among his provisions, they are kept subordinate to the dignity of the main essay. Swift writes with a grave, (truncated) self-conscious intensity …" (Ephrenpreis, Swift II, p. 694). Rothschild 2049; Teerink 592 (Inventory #: 308178)