The Sound of New Atlantis

‘New Atlantis’ is a utopian novel published in English in 1627. Francis Bacon provides a vision of the future of human discovery and knowledge, expressing his aspirations and ideals for humankind. In this abridged edition, those sections of ‘New Atlantis’ that deal with Bensalem’s sound-houses are imagined sonically, linking Bacon’s prescient acoustic notions to later exploitations of electricity, not least in music and sound design.