Like most editions of Utopia, this one owes a great debt to those who have done the hard work of translating. The first English-language translation was done by Ralph Robynson in 1551, a mere thirty-five years after the book appeared in its original Latin. Most of the ancillary letters and marginalia I have taken from this source, but because Robynson’s translation is in Early Modern English, and difficult for the contemporary reader to understand, I have, judiciously, modernized archaic words and punctuation. The second major English translation of Utopia was undertaken by Gilbert Burnet, the Bishop of Salisbury, in 1684. Although this translation can also sound a bit stilted to modern ears, it is the translation used in the copyright-free Project Guttenberg text, and thus, out of respect for this early attempt to make an open Utopia, also the one used as the basis of Book I and Book II in my Open Utopia. I have selectively drawn from and consulted more modern translations throughout the process, notably the fine Clarendon Press edition of 1895, and drew upon the expertise of my colleagues, particularly C. Jacob Butera, to translate marginalia as well as several of the accompanying letters. Illustrations, including a Utopian map and alphabet, are from the original printings of Utopia, and are reproduced here from public domain editions. A more complete ancestry follows.
The Table of Contents and the order of the ancillary letters, poems, and commendations are my own. In each of the four original editions of Utopia printed between 1516-1518 new materials were added, others deleted, and their order rearranged. For this collection I have included all the materials printed in these four editions and ordered them according to convention, common sense, and my editorial prerogative. Much of the verse that accompanied the book now serves as a sort of preface. Immediately before the body of the text is More’s introductory epistle to Peter Giles, then come Book I and II. Following these are More’s second letter to Giles, and then, finishing out the book, are the letters and commendations on Utopia solicited from Europe’s literati.
Title Page
Original translation from the Latin by C. Jacob Butera, 2011. Latin source: Edward Surtz and J.H. Hexter, eds, Complete Works of Thomas More, vol. IV (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1965).
Map of Utopia
Reprinted from a facsimile of the original woodcut in the first edition (Louvain: 1516)
Utopian Alphabet
Reprinted from a facsimile of the original woodcut in the first edition (Louvain: 1516)
Four Verses in the Utopian Tongue
The Utopia of Sir Thomas More, translated by Ralph Robynson, edited and with additional translation by J. H. Lupton (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1895). Modernization of archaic terms and spellings by Stephen Duncombe.
A Short Meter of Utopia, Anemolius
The Utopia of Sir Thomas More, translated by Ralph Robynson, edited and with additional translation by J. H. Lupton (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1895). Modernization by Stephen Duncombe.
Of Utopia, Gerard Geldenhouwer
The Utopia of Sir Thomas More, translated by Ralph Robynson, edited and with additional translation by J. H. Lupton (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1895). Modernization by Stephen Duncombe.
To the Reader, Cornelius Graphey
The Utopia of Sir Thomas More, translated by Ralph Robynson, edited and with additional translation by J. H. Lupton (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1895). Modernization by Stephen Duncombe.
Prefatory Epistle, Thomas More to Peter Giles
The Utopia of Sir Thomas More, translated by Ralph Robynson, edited and with additional translation by J. H. Lupton (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1895). Modernization by Stephen Duncombe.
Books I and II
Project Gutenberg eBook, Utopia, translated by Gilbert Burnet, edited and with additional translation by Henry Morley (London: Cassell & Co, 1901). Transcribed by David Price. Release Date: April 22, 2005, with the notice:
“This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net“
Book Titles: Original translation from the Latin by Andrew Romig, 2011.
Section Titles: In original Latin text, translated by Burnet. Titles in [brackets] added by Stephen Duncombe, following convention and common sense.
Paragraphs: Parsed by Stephen Duncombe, following convention and common sense.
Thomas More to Peter Giles
More’s Utopia, translated by C.G. Richards (Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1923).
Erasmus to John Froben
The Utopia of Sir Thomas More, translated by Ralph Robynson, edited and with additional translation by J. H. Lupton (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1895). Letter translated by Lupton.
Peter Giles to Jerome Busleyden
The Utopia of Sir Thomas More, translated by Ralph Robynson, edited and with additional translation by J. H. Lupton (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1895). Modernization by Stephen Duncombe.
Guillaume Bude to Thomas Lupset
The Utopia of Sir Thomas More, translated by Ralph Robynson, edited and with additional translation by J. H. Lupton (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1895). Letter translated by Lupton.
Jerome de Busleyden to Thomas More
The Utopia of Sir Thomas More, translated by Ralph Robynson, edited and with additional translation by J. H. Lupton (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1895). Letter translated by Lupton.
John Desmarais to Peter Giles
Original translation from the Latin by C Jacob Butera, 2011. Latin source: Edward Surtz and J.H. Hexter, eds, Complete Works of Thomas More, vol. IV (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1965).
Beatus Rhenanus to Willibald Pirckheimer
Original translation from the Latin by C Jacob Butera, 2011. Latin source: Edward Surtz and J.H. Hexter, eds, Complete Works of Thomas More, vol. IV (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1965).
Marginalia (Episte: More to Giles, Books I and II)
Original translation from the Latin by C Jacob Butera, 2011. Latin source: Edward Surtz and J.H. Hexter, eds, Complete Works of Thomas More, vol. IV (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1965).
Footnotes
Stephen Duncombe, 2012. Aided by notes included in The Utopia of Sir Thomas More, translated by Ralph Robynson, edited and with additional translation by J.H. Lupton (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1895); Edward Surtz and J.H. Hexter, eds, Complete Works of Thomas More, vol. IV (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1965); Thomas More, Utopia, translated and edited by George M. Logan and Robert M. Adams, rev. edn (Cambridge: CUP, 2002; Sir Thomas More, Utopia, translated by Ralph Robinson, edited by David Harris Stacks (Boston and New York: Bedford/St.Martins, 1999); edited by Peter G. Bietenholz and Thomas B. Deutscher, eds, Contemporaries of Erasmus: A Biographical Register of the Renaissance and Reformation, vols 1-3 (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1985); Britannica Academic Edition; and, of course, Wikipedia.
For all my sources I am deeply indebted to the Internet Archive of the University of Toronto for making facsimiles of public-domain editions of Utopia, and countless other texts. Enter www.archive.org »