Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 12

This issue of Beadle's Half-Dime Library (No. 98, 1877) presents Jonathan Swift's "A Voyage to Lilliput," the opening chapter of Gulliver's Travels. The narrative follows Lemuel Gulliver's early life—his education at Cambridge, apprenticeship to a London surgeon, medical studies at Leiden, and subsequent maritime employment—before detailing his shipwreck near Van Diemen's Land in 1699. Washed ashore, Gulliver awakens bound by tiny inhabitants six inches tall. Despite initial hostility involving arrow attacks, the diminutive Lilliputians, acting on their king's orders, provide him food and drink. A high-ranking official communicates that Gulliver must be transported as a prisoner to their capital city. The excerpt concludes with Gulliver's acquiescence and the Lilliputians' medical treatment of his arrow wounds before his extended sleep.