Utopia, Written By Sir Thomas More In Latin, And Translated By Ralph Robynson, To Which Are Added The Life Of The Author By His Son-In-Law William Roper, And Some Of His Letters. The Chiswick Library Of Noble Writers More, Sir Thomas (1478-1535), [Robynson, Ralph, Translator], [Roper, William, Life], [Sampson, George, Editor] Gift Books & Fine Bindings,Literature,Strange Tales & Mysteries

[Utopia] LIMITED PRIVATE PRESS EDITION. Quarto (35 x 22cm), pp.xii; 265 [1]. With an engraved frontispiece and decorated title page by W.L. Bruckman, as well as two woodcuts taken from the 1518 Basel edition by Ambrose Holbein. Number 102 of just 220 copies thus, hand-numbered to limitation page. Letterpress-printed on fine handmade paper in red and black ink. Publisher's cream quarter cloth, with brown cloth over boards, and printed paper title labels to spine and upper. All edges untrimmed. Illustrated bookplate of H.G. Plimmer to front pastedown, otherwise crisp and clean internally. Spine shows moderate wear and browning. Very good. Thomas More's greatest work, which is credited with launching not just the Utopian genre, but also Science Fiction as well. More's fictional adventurer, Raphael Hythlodaeus, has sailed to a mysterious moon-shaped island where gold is as prevalent as iron, and where the natives live in a sort of proto-socialist wonderland. Part satire, part wonder tale, this is a landmark piece of literature. A fine new edition prepared by George Sampson from various early editions, and from four separate manuscripts of the Life in the British Museum.