ABSTRACT
Utopia takes its name from a book of that name published abroad in 1517 by Sir Thomas More. It was not translated into English until 1551 and then as A Fruiteful and pleasunt worke of the beste State of a public weale, and of the new yle, called Utopia. Not till long after were the full implications of its twenty-four garden cities, based on handicrafts, really grasped. For the medieval cast of his thought needed penetrating. It became a primer, subject, like all primers, to gloss and commentary, but important for that very reason.
