Books

Hafinae & Lipsiae [Copenhagen and Leipzig]: Printed By Pelt, Friedrich Christian, 1766. Early Reprint. Full Leather. Near Fine+. Fourth Edition, in Latin, of one of the most popular eighteenth-century utopian novels (second only to Gulliver's Travels), eventually reaching some 60 editions in 13 different languages. Small 8vo: [10],360pp, with portrait frontispiece, engraved title-page, folding map and six full-page plates engraved by Brühl (the 1741 first edition, published in Copenhagen, contained only 3 three plates in addition to the frontispiece; the first English edition, none). Contemporary dark brown mottled sheep, elaborately gilded spine sewn on five bands, green and tan lettering pieces gilt, red paste-paper end papers, marbled edges. Spine rubbed with some loss of gilt, else an extremely pleasing and collectible copy of this satirical romance in the style of Gulliver's Travels (although Bleiler notes that "Holberg's satire is wider in scope, more penetrating in…

Set in the year 1665, the story is narrated by Niels Klim, who returns to his hometown of Bergen after graduating from the University of Copenhagen. During a mountain climb with friends, he falls into a pit and, after fifteen minutes, emerges in the hollow interior of the Earth. This space is a miniature cosmos with planets orbiting a small sun. After drifting for a while, he lands on a planet called Nazar, in the kingdom of Potu (an anagram of "utopia"), where he encounters intelligent tree-like beings. Holberg's work combines satire with a fantastic voyage and embodies the spirit of the eighteenth century. Aside from its Latin language and passages of verse and prose adapted from classical authors, this novel is entirely modern in spirit. Its depiction of travel to exotic lands is reminiscent of Jonathan Swift's "Gulliver's Travels" (1726), but with more wit and humor. Holberg's idea of a hollow Earth containing other habitable lands foreshadows Jules Verne's "Journey to the Center of the Earth."