The Battle of the Books: Free Audiobook and Listening Guide

The Battle of the Books, credited to Jonathan Swift, is available as a LibriVox volunteer audiobook. This guide identifies the recording, its source summary and its audio tracks.

About the work

The LibriVox catalogue summary, preserved with the recording, reads:

LibriVox recording of The Battle of the Books by Jonathan Swift. Read in English by Elijah Fisher "The Battle of the Books" depicts a literal battle between books in the King's Library (housed in St James's Palace at the time of the writing), as ideas and authors struggle for supremacy. Because of the satire, "The Battle of the Books" has become a term for the Quarrel of the Ancients and the Moderns. It is one of his earliest well-known works. (Wikipedia)

Recording facts

• Recording title: The Battle of the Books
• Author credits: Jonathan Swift
• Language: English
• Original MP3 tracks: 23
• Listed recording duration: 5:08:47

Catalogue topics

• satire
• books
• battle
• library

Track guide

1. 00 - Introduction, the bookseller to the reader, & the preface of the author — 14:38
2. 01 - A full and true account... Part 1 — 31:02
3. 02 - A full and true account... Part 2 — 22:30
4. 03 - The Episode of Bentley and Wotton — 15:51
5. 04 - A Meditation Upon a Broomstick — 3:31
6. 05 - Predictions for the Year 1708 — 22:55
7. 06 - The Accomplishment of the First of Mr. Bickerstaff’s Predictions… — 8:15
8. 07 - Baucis and Philemon — 9:23
9. 08 - The logicians refuted — 3:33
10. 09 - The puppet show — 4:07
11. 10 - Candenus and Vanessa — 41:38
12. 11 - STELLA’S BIRTHDAY, 1718 — 1:17
13. 12 - STELLA’S BIRTHDAY, 1720. — 3:06
14. 13 - STELLA’S BIRTHDAY — 4:33
15. 14 - STELLA’S BIRTHDAY, 1724 — 2:49
16. 15 - STELLA’S BIRTHDAY, MARCH 13, 1726 — 4:20
17. 16 - TO STELLA — 6:46
18. 17 - The first he wrote OCT. 17, 1727 — 3:49
19. 18 - The second prayer was written NOV. 6, 1727. — 4:03
20. 19 - The Beasts' confession (1732) — 11:29
21. 20 - An argument to prove that the abolishing... — 38:55
22. 21 - Hints towards and essay on conversation — 26:04
23. 22 - Thoughts on various subjects — 24:13

Listen to this recording

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Source and rights

This is a record from LibriVox's official Internet Archive collection, with a public-domain licence recorded in its metadata. LibriVox's policy includes its catalogue summaries as well as its recordings. Its public-domain assessment follows United States law; copyright status can differ elsewhere. The summary and track facts are reproduced and reformatted from that record. Dates attached to the archive upload are not treated as original book publication dates.