Swift’s first satire was ostensibly published in 1704 by John Nutt, who handled the distribution of the book and allowed his imprint to be used to conceal Swift’s connection with the text. However, the true publisher was in fact Benjamin Tooke, an important printer of Swift’s works and those of his employer, the diplomat and author Sir William Temple. Swift had acted as Temple’s secretary, amanuensis and emissary to the court of William III.
Whilst working in Temple’s library, the young author read widely in political and ecclesiastical history, travel writing and the classics. It was at this time that Swift conceived the idea for A Tale of a Tub, which features the allegory of three brothers representing the three main branches of western Christianity: Roman Catholicism (Peter), Anglicanism (Martin) and Dissenting Protestantism (Jack). The Tale also includes ‘An Account of a Battel between the Antient and Modern Books in St. James’s Library’, known as ‘Battel of the Books’, which is an elaborate defence of Temple’s controversial attack on ‘modern’ branches of knowledge in his Essay upon the Ancient and Modern Learning (1690).
A Tale of a Tub is often regarded as a satire on religion itself, presenting a consistent lampoon of religious excess, while providing digressions in a series of parodies of contemporary writing in literature, politics, theology and medicine. The overarching parody is of enthusiasm, pride and credulity. From its opening (once past the prolegomena, which comprises the first three sections), the book alternates between Digression and Tale. However, the digressions overwhelm the narrative, both in terms of the forcefulness and imaginativeness of writing and in terms of volume.
At the time it was written, politics and religion were still linked very closely in England, and the religious and political aspects of the satire can seldom be separated. The work made Swift infamous, being widely misunderstood, especially by Queen Anne herself, who mistook its purpose for profanity. Due to this misunderstanding, Swift was prevented from obtaining later preferment within the church.