After much hesitation and debate the spelling and punctua-
tion of fifteenth-century and sixteenth-century quotations have
been modernized. The decision was reached in view of the
achievement of greater readability, confirmed by the practice
of reputable Morean scholars. In perplexing cases -- for exam-
ple, as to the use of either for other as a conjunction -- the
obsolete form was retained if it occurred as a main or subordi-
nate entry in The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Histor-
ical Principles ( Oxford, 1944). Even here, complete consistency
was almost impossible.

As often as practicable, More has been permitted to speak
in his own words (in modernized form).

To avoid unnecessary distraction and annoyance by multi-
tudinous footnote numbers in the text, all citations of sources,
as a rule, have been grouped in a single footnote at the end of
each paragraph. In view of More's Catholicism, Catholic author-
ities naturally predominate, since they furnish a clear explana-
tion of ideas and institutions in the Catholic background against
which the Utopia was written.

The present author has usually made his translations from
the Latin as literal as possible but with due respect for English
idiom. For aid in the refinements of Latinity he is grateful to
the Reverend James J. Mertz, S.J., chairman of the Department
of Classical Languages, Loyola University, Chicago, Illinois.

Thanks are due to the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial
Foundation for the fellowship which made possible the leisure
and the travel necessary for research in American and European
libraries and archives.

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