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Title page of New Atlantis in Sylva Sylvarum

Francis Bacon · 1628

The title page of Francis Bacon's utopian story New Atlantis, as printed in the 1628 edition of his Sylva sylvarum. Bacon wrote the story, and it was published two years after his death.

Shows Bacon as the author of New Atlantis, a utopia he wrote but did not finish, as it was published after his death.

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Scanned title page reading 'NEVV ATLANTIS. A VVorke vnfinished. VVritten by the Right Honourable, FRANCIS Lord Verulam, Viscount St. Alban.' Below the text is a decorative engraved cartouche showing figures and ornamental scrollwork. Black and white, printed in old-style serif type.
Francis Bacon, title page of New Atlantis in Sylva sylvarum, London, William Lee, 1628. Wellcome/Commons record.

About this source

What it is

This is the title page of New Atlantis, Francis Bacon's utopia, as it was printed in the second edition of his Sylva sylvarum, published in London by William Lee at the Turks in 1628. The page names the author as 'Francis Lord Verulam, Viscount St. Alban' and calls the work 'A Worke vnfinished'. It is set in old-style serif type beneath a decorative engraved cartouche.

Why it matters

Bacon wrote New Atlantis as an imagined society, and this page shows how his unfinished story reached readers. It appeared in print two years after Bacon died in 1626. Its place in a natural history collection connects his imagined society to his interest in studying nature.

Look closer

  • What do the title words and the decorative cartouche suggest about how the book wanted to be read?
  • Why might a publisher print an unfinished story inside a larger scientific work?
  • What does this page leave out, and how would the full text change your reading?

This book is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Francis Bacon on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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Title page of New Atlantis, printed in old-style typeface: 'NEVV ATLANTIS. A Vvorke vnfinished. Vvritten by the Right Honourable, Francis Lord Verulam, Viscount St. Alban.' Below the text is a small ornate woodcut frame with a figure and a winged creature.Book

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