Lemuel Gulliver. Engraving of Captain Lemuel Gulliver of Redriff, a fictitious explorer devised by the Anglo-Irish writer Jonathan Swift (1667-1745). Gulliver appeared in Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World (1726). More popularly known as Gulliver's Travels, the book was an instant success despite the fact that Swift had published it anonymously. Written in the style of many contemporary books about exploration, Gulliver's Travels was a savage, satirical attack on the political leaders and society of the time. However, the book also became a children's favourite. Engraving of Gulliver aged 58 from a 1727 book.