David Woolley was born in Shanghai, China, 30 August 1924, and was educated in Japan and Australia. He first read Gulliver's Travels in 1944, and has made a study ever since of the esteemed author's writings in prose and verse, in manuscript and print. An orchestral musician's itinerant life enabled him to examine first-hand this legacy of original documents in many parts of the world. He supervised the publication of the Poetical Works (Oxford, 1967), edited a partial revision of volumes IV and V of the published Correspondence (Oxford, 1972) and (with Angus Ross) edited the Oxford Authors Jonathan Swift (1984). He introduced Swift, Temple, and the DuCros Affair (Los Angeles, 1986), and has contributed research articles to the learned journals since 1970. In 1987, upon retirement, he received the honorary degree of LL.D. from Monash University, Victoria, and moved to Perth, Western Australia. In June 2000, upon publication of volume I of this edition, he was awarded the degree Ph.D.h.c. by the Westfaelische Wilhelms-Universitaet Muenster. David Woolley died on 27 October 2005. He had finished his edition of Swift's correspondence by then. Shortly before his death, he received the appointment of Member of the Order of Australia for his services to music and literature, and particularly for studies of the life and writings of Jonathan Swift.