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Why was Gulliver’s Travels published anonymously?

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Illustration of Lemuel Gulliver lying on the ground, tied down by tiny Lilliputians, with crowds and small buildings in the background, from Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels. — Gulliver’s Travels Lemuel Gulliver in Lilliput, illustration from an edition of Jonathan Swift's *Gulliver's Travels*.

Gulliver’s Travels (1726) was published anonymously as a matter of convention for the author, Jonathan Swift, and his contemporaries. During the 18th century, anonymity served as an important creative resource for writers, allowing them to experiment with invented personae and mock forms to deliver biting social and political satire without immediate personal attribution.12

Swift frequently utilized these techniques of impersonation to critique the follies and politics of his day, including the Whigs and Tories and the Walpole regime. By publishing anonymously, authors could distance themselves from the controversial nature of their work while effectively engaging in the "paper wars" of the era. This practice was common among writers of the time, including Daniel Defoe, who also used anonymity to sustain the credibility of his invented narrators.321