Ignoring Swift in Dublin? Swift's Bickerstaff Hoax in the Dublin Print Trade

Swift’s hoax against the Whig astrologer John Partridge, in the character of Isaac Bickerstaff, was a huge and much reprinted success in London in 1708 but was little reprinted in Dublin. Three Dublin print controversies over the following years, all involving Partridge’s Dublin equivalent, the Whig astrologer, almanac-maker and printer John Whalley (featuring in turn the Tory printer Cornelius Carter, the Cork astrologer John Coates, and the circle of Thomas Sheridan) show that while Swift’s hoax at first gained little traction among printers and almanac-makers, in the hands of educated professionals from Swift’s own circle it was later invoked in the construction of his probity as author and citizen that followed the Proposal for the Universal Use of Irish Manufacture in 1720 and preceded the Drapier’s letters of 1724.