The Battle of the Books and other Short Pieces: (Illustrated)

The Battle of the Books is the name of a short satire written by Jonathan Swift and published as part of the prolegomena to his A Tale of a Tub in 1704. It depicts a literal battle between books in the King's Library, 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.