1551

The year 1551 marks Utopia’s first publication in England: the book appeared there in an English translation by Ralph Robinson, during the reign of Edward VI. It was not the work’s first printed appearance, but a change in its language and place of publication that brought it into the country’s print history after it had circulated in Latin on the Continent.

The Continental Editions

Utopia was written in Latin in two parts. Its second part, describing the imagined island, was probably composed toward the end of 1515; the introductory first part followed in early 1516. The book’s first printing came at Louvain late in 1516, under the editorship of Erasmus, Peter Giles, and other of Thomas More’s friends in Flanders. More subsequently revised it, and a new edition was printed by Frobenius at Basel in November 1518. Reprints followed at Paris and Vienna, but the work remained unprinted in England during More’s lifetime.

The English Publication of 1551

Robinson’s 1551 translation was the first publication of Utopia in England and its first English translation identified in this publication history. The distinction matters: the book had already been printed and reprinted elsewhere, but its entry into English print came through translation rather than a domestic edition of its Latin text. The date therefore marks both a geographical arrival and a linguistic change in the work’s transmission.

Later Translation and Reception

The publication history continued with Gilbert Burnet’s English translation in 1684, described as having greater literary skill than Robinson’s. Burnet was drawn to the book by the same sense of unreason in high places that had prompted More to write it. His translation followed his defense of Lord William Russell, his attendance at Russell’s execution, his vindication of Russell’s memory, and his loss of a lectureship at St. Clement’s under James II. The account identifies Burnet’s version as the translation printed in the volume, setting it apart from Robinson’s earlier 1551 publication.