Drapier's Letters is the collective name for a series of seven pamphlets written by the Dean of St Patrick's Cathedral, Jonathan Swift. The letters were written between 1724 and 1725 to arouse public opinion in Ireland against the imposition of a privately minted copper coinage, which Swift believed to be of inferior quality. William Wood was granted a patent to mint the coin, and Swift saw the licensing of the patent as corrupt.

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  • Drapier's Letters is the collective name for a series of seven pamphlets written by the Dean of St Patrick's Cathedral, Jonathan Swift. The letters were written between 1724 and 1725 to arouse public opinion in Ireland against the imposition of a privately minted copper coinage, which Swift believed to be of inferior quality. William Wood was granted a patent to mint the coin, and Swift saw the licensing of the patent as corrupt. In response, Swift represented Ireland as constitutionally and financially independent in the Drapier's Letters. Since the subject was politically sensitive, Swift wrote under the pseudonym M. B. Drapier to hide from retaliation. Although the letters were condemned by the Irish government, with prompting from the English government, they were still able to inspire popular sentiment against Wood and his patent. The popular sentiment turned into a nationwide boycott, which forced the patent to be withdrawn; Swift was later honoured for this service to the people of Ireland. Many Irish people recognized Swift as a hero for his defiance of English control over the Irish nation. Beyond being a hero, many critics have seen Swift, through the persona of the Drapier, as the first to organize a "more universal Irish community", although it is disputed as to who constitutes that community. Regardless of whom Swift is actually appealing to or what he may or may not have done, the nickname provided by Archbishop King, "Our Irish Copper-Farthen Dean", and his connection to ending the controversy stuck. The first complete collection of the Drapier's Letters appeared in the 1735 George Faulkner edition of the Works of Jonathan Swift along with an allegorical frontispiece offering praise and thanks from the Irish people. Today, the Drapier's Letters are seen as the most important of Swift's "Irish tracts", and are an important part of Swift's political writings, along with Gulliver's Travels (1726), A Tale of a Tub (1704), and A Modest Proposal (1729).
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  • The Drapier's Letters
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  • Drapier's Letters is the collective name for a series of seven pamphlets written by the Dean of St Patrick's Cathedral, Jonathan Swift. The letters were written between 1724 and 1725 to arouse public opinion in Ireland against the imposition of a privately minted copper coinage, which Swift believed to be of inferior quality. William Wood was granted a patent to mint the coin, and Swift saw the licensing of the patent as corrupt.
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  • Drapier's Letters
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