2011 Folio Utopia hidden words

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2011 Folio Utopia hidden words

1BionicJim
dec 17, 2021, 2:19 pm

I recently read Thomas More’s Utopia, which was interesting and thought-provoking as much as comical in that it had a bunch of wishful-thinking and borderline ridiculous ideas. Solution to population control? Give the extra babies to the neighboring cities that are underpopulated. Banish all lawyers.

While I was reading from the LEC edition, which was not really illustrated, a friend acquired the 2011 Folio Society book, which is very handsome, and illustrated by Adam Simpson. His “Escher-like illustrations” (per the prospectus) have key words integrated into them. Some are more obvious than others. I can’t figure out the word in the castle scene copied below. Can anyone help? Has anyone found the hidden words in all seven of the illustrations?

Here’s the page from the prospectus (copied from the wiki) that shows 3 of the illustrations:



2JacobHolt
Bewerkt: dec 17, 2021, 2:40 pm

>1 BionicJim: Myth? (Spelled out by the descending towers on the left side of the castle?)

3BionicJim
Bewerkt: dec 17, 2021, 2:47 pm

>2 JacobHolt: This makes sense as it is in the section of the book discussing religion. More advocated here for religious tolerance, btw, which is odd considering his activities in real life persecuting Protestants.

What throws me off is the two additional letters after MYTH: R and A? What would that signify?

4JacobHolt
dec 17, 2021, 3:01 pm

>3 BionicJim: Hmmm--I didn't see R and A until you pointed them out. That does complicate things!

5Juniper_tree
dec 17, 2021, 3:22 pm

The days of £20 books (or £25.60 in todays money).

6antinous_in_london
dec 17, 2021, 4:27 pm

>5 Juniper_tree: It’s still sometimes the day of £20 books - but mainly on eBay etc (or even less than £20 as i bought my sealed copy of Utopia last month online for £12 !)

7Lukas1990
dec 17, 2021, 5:11 pm

There's an excellent older edition illustrated by Bawden. I ordered it but it got lost en route during the customs crisis after Brexit. Very sad.

8geoffmiles
Bewerkt: dec 17, 2021, 5:45 pm

>4 JacobHolt: The list of illustrations lists it as 'MYTHRA' – the Utopians' name for the supreme God. But I suspect the illustrator, Adam Simpson, was being deliberately mischievous in separating the 'MYTH' from the 'RA'.

9BionicJim
dec 17, 2021, 7:02 pm

>8 geoffmiles: Ah, that is the solution. For some reason I forgot about Mythra, but it did ring a bell.

10Son.of.York
dec 18, 2021, 6:39 am

And, for whatever it’s worth, Mithras (spelled with an i) was the god of an early competitor to Christianity, Mithraism.