.jpg?w=1)
Details
MORE, Thomas (1478-1535). The Common-Wealth of Utopia. Containing a learned and pleasant Discourse of the best State of the Publick Weal, as it is found in the new Island called Utopia. London: Printed. Philadelphia: Reprinted by James Chattin, 1753.
8o in half sheets (196 x 118 mm). (Some browning, closely trimmed shaving a few headlines.) Modern calf. Provenance: W. Franklin (signature on title).
FIRST AMERICAN EDITION, AND VERY RARE. Only one copy, sold by Christie's New York 17 May 1989, lot 160, appears in American Book Prices Current in at least 30 years. More's classic book takes on added significance with an American imprint: "In placing his 'Utopia' somewhere in the New World, More must have greatly heightened the imaginative effect of the work to readers of his own time. The sense of illusion thus given at the outset is remarkably well maintained throughout. No other creator of imaginary societies has been so successful in directly impressing the reader with the feasibility of his scheme of social betterment" (O.M.W. Sprague, Lectures on the Harvard Classics, 1904-14). Evans 7068; Sabin 50547.
8
FIRST AMERICAN EDITION, AND VERY RARE. Only one copy, sold by Christie's New York 17 May 1989, lot 160, appears in American Book Prices Current in at least 30 years. More's classic book takes on added significance with an American imprint: "In placing his 'Utopia' somewhere in the New World, More must have greatly heightened the imaginative effect of the work to readers of his own time. The sense of illusion thus given at the outset is remarkably well maintained throughout. No other creator of imaginary societies has been so successful in directly impressing the reader with the feasibility of his scheme of social betterment" (O.M.W. Sprague, Lectures on the Harvard Classics, 1904-14). Evans 7068; Sabin 50547.