First edition of Van Hoogstraten's translation of Utopia, which was only the second translation into Dutch. Considered a "beautiful and fluent translation" (Van Bunge), it reached a wide audience in its own time, and was even republished in 1700. François van Hoogstraten (1632-1696) was a publisher and poet, but was also well-known for his translations. As a staunch admirer of Erasmus, he primarily translated his works into Dutch. The present translation, which is rarely offered for sale, is also dedicated to him.
Utopia, written by Thomas More (1478-1535), is closely connected to the Low Countries. Not only is it partly situated there, but the first edition, written in Latin, was also published there in 1516. Nevertheless, the first Dutch translation only appeared in 1553. It was reprinted - in different Protestant and Catholic versions - until Van Hoogstraten made his translation. It was only then that the work truly started to capture the Dutch imagination. The work itself sets out an ideal political society. It was "a tract for the times, to rub in the lesson of Erasmus; it inveighs against the new statesmanship of all-powerful autocracy and the new economics of large enclosures and the destruction of the old common-field agriculture, just as it pleads for religious tolerance and universal education" (PMM).
The vellum is somewhat soiled, with traces of paraffin wax on the back. Lacking the first free endpaper, the free endpaper in the back is somewhat creased and torn. Otherwise in good condition. Buisman 1665; STCN 840093349 (9 copies); Waller 1237; cf. Bunge, W. van., "Het onbekent en wonderlijk Eyland: Frans van Hoogstratens Translation of Utopia (1677)", in: The Oxford handbook of Thomas More's Utopia , 2023, pp. 295-306; Printing and the mind of man 47.