14 minSummaryRead it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook editionPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What if a lost ship finds a society built around the study of nature?
Lost in the Pacific, a ship’s crew reaches the hidden island of Bensalem. The strangers receive food, clothes and shelter, while skilled carers tend the sick. Through an unnamed traveler’s eyes, Francis Bacon introduces a peaceful society whose welcome comes with careful rules.
The governor of the Strangers House explains Bensalem’s faith and laws. Joabin, a Jewish merchant, discusses marriage and virtue. At the heart of this unfinished tale stands Salomon’s House, where scholars seek to understand nature and put knowledge to use. Conversation and description carry Bacon’s vision of learning through observation and experiment.
What you’ll discover
- A welcome with limits Enter the Strangers House, where generous care meets the island’s careful rules for outsiders.
- Knowledge put to work Explore Salomon’s House, a college devoted to understanding nature and making that understanding useful.
- A society seen closely Follow the narrator through conversations about the faith, laws and customs that shape Bensalem.
- Family in public life Visit the Feast of the Family and consider the place of kinship in this imagined society.
- Bacon’s ideas take shape Discover a story that gives observation and experiment a setting you can explore.
Who will love it
You will enjoy this if you like voyage stories, imagined ideal societies, or the early history of science and invention. It suits anyone curious how a great thinker pictured a better world.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- Help comes with clear boundaries
- Strangers receive care and protection
- Faith and inquiry share a place
- Seclusion leaves a window for knowledge
- Family life supports public order
- Scientific tools serve human welfare
- Discovery depends on organized teamwork
- Knowledge carries a moral purpose
Who’s who
- The narratorA ship's leader who tells the tale, guides his crew with sober advice and is chosen to speak alone with the Father.
- The Governor of the Strangers' HouseA Christian priest and state official who cares for the sailors and answers their questions on faith, history and secrecy.
- JoabinA wise Jewish merchant of Bensalem who befriends the narrator and explains the island's marriage customs and family life.
- The Father of Salomon's HouseA visiting elder of the research order who agrees to describe its purpose, tools and ranks to the narrator.
- King SolamonaThe ancient lawgiver who founds Salomon's House and shapes the island's rules on strangers and secret learning.
- The TirsanThe head of a large family who holds the Feast of the Family, settles disputes and blesses each descendant.
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New Atlantis
by Francis Bacon · 1627
Starving sailors land on Bensalem, an island where a secret house of scientists studies all of nature.
ChallengingUnder 2 hours to read20 languages
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“Bacon, Locke and Newton. I consider them as the three greatest men that have ever lived, without any exception, and as having laid the foundation of those superstructures which have been raised in the Physical and Moral sciences”
In short
What would a society look like if its rulers put the study of nature at the center of public life? Francis Bacon answers with a sea story.
New Atlantis at a glance
- Reading time
- About 1 h50 min fast, 1 h 10 min slow
- Length
- 14,400 words
- Library level
- Challenging long sentences, a rich vocabulary
- First published
- 1627by Francis Bacon
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). How long the classics take to read · Updated
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
Starving sailors find a hidden island city
A ship leaves Peru for China and Japan, carrying food for twelve months. Then the wind swings west and the ship barely moves. Strong southern winds push it north into the widest stretch of empty water in the world, and the food runs out. The sailors give themselves up for lost and pray to God to show them land.
The next evening they see what looks like thick cloud. By dawn it is land, dark with trees. They sail toward a good harbor beside a small, well-built city. People on the shore hold up staffs and wave the ship off. They do not shout or threaten.
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Details
- First published
- 1627
- Language
- English
- Reading time
- 1 h 10 min
- Level
- Challenging
Cite this edition
Bacon, Francis. New Atlantis. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/new-atlantis.
Bacon, F. (2026). New Atlantis. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/new-atlantis (Original work published 1627)
Bacon, Francis. New Atlantis. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/new-atlantis.
@book{bacon2026new,
author = {Bacon, Francis},
title = {New Atlantis},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/new-atlantis},
note = {First published 1627}
}
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What is New Atlantis about?
It tells of European sailors who land on Bensalem, a hidden island in the South Sea. They are welcomed, learn its history and customs, and hear from a Father about Salomon's House, a society devoted to studying nature.
What is Salomon's House in New Atlantis?
It is the island's research order, founded by King Solamona. Its fellows gather knowledge from the world, run experiments in caves, towers and laboratories, and share useful discoveries with the people.
Is New Atlantis a true story?
No. It is an imagined tale by Francis Bacon, published in 1627, after his death. It uses a traveler's story to picture how organized science might serve a whole society.
The author
Francis Bacon
1561–1626 · English philosopher and essayist
Francis Bacon (1561–1626) was an English philosopher, writer, and statesman. He was born in London and lived in England. He served as Lord Chancellor from 1618 to 1621. His works include Essays (1597), The Advancement of Learning (1605), and Novum Organum (1620). New Atlantis appeared after his death, in 1627.
“knowledge of the causes and hidden motions of things, and the expansion of the bounds of human dominion, to accomplish everything possible”
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