MORE, Thomas - ERASMUS

4to, printed in Greek and Roman characters, woodcut title border by Hans Holbein, repeated on c1, full-page woodcut map of Utopia and half-page woodcut scene by Ambrosius Holbein, woodcut title border of More's epigrams by Urs Graf, woodcut title border of the epigrams of Erasmus by Hans Holbein. The two woodcuts by Ambrosius Holbein, Hans' older brother, include the famous bird's-eye view of the island of Utopia (a full-page illustration) and the fascinating scene showing the traveler fictional character of the story, Raphael Hythlodaeus, in conversation with More himself and his adversary friend Peter Gilles (Aegidius), while More's young assistant, John Clement (who later becomes a royal doctor and More's son-in-law) approaches them. Froben's dazzling display of foreign-script printing in the service of a learned joke is almost never sustained as the slippery Utopia makes its way into the vernacular languages and the uneven landscape of printing across Europe. The alphabet's presence in the early editions emphasizes the connections between humanist philology, the printing of unfamiliar alphabets, and European expansionism. Some cases of censorship: 4 lines of f. D2 cut out, lower half of f. F3 cut out, two lines of f. I4 cut out, lvs. K2-3 cut out. Marginal annotations. Ms. ex libris on title page erased, old stamp erased. Bound with: Giovanni GARZONI, De rebus Saxoniae, Thuringiae, Libonotriae, Misnae, et Lusatiae, libri duo. Basel, (Froben, 1518). 2 parts in 1 vol, both with a title in an identical woodcut engraved border. Froben's printer's device at the end of each part. Bound in contemporary half pigskin on wooden boards, one clasp