Which came first? · Counterintuitive
Which came first: Gulliver's Travels or Handel's Messiah?
Gulliver's Travels came first, in 1726 (published). Handel's Messiah followed 16 years later, in 1742 (premiered).
- First1726
Gulliver's Travels
book · publishedGulliver's Travels came out in 1726; its publisher used five printing houses at once to speed production and beat pirates.
- Second1742
Handel's Messiah
music · premieredHandel's Messiah was first performed in Dublin in 1742.
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All which-came-first pairs · About Older Than You Think · Quiz games
Years from Wikidata, each checked against the item’s English Wikipedia article on 2026-10-18. A year stands for what its label says: a founding, a first patent, a premiere.