8vo., First and Sole Edition thus, on laid paper, text in Latin, with several fine woodcut head- and tail-pieces, some slight age-staining (mainly marginal, more pronounced on a handful of leaves); contemporary marbled boards, very neatly rebacked in calf to style, back with four raised bands, second compartment with red leather label lettered in gilt, a remarkably, fresh, crisp, clean copy. First published in 1535, the 'Ecclesiastes' is Erasmus' last and longest work, a detailed treatise on preaching and the offices and duties of priesthood. O'Malley deems it 'a major monument - perhaps the major monument - in the history of sacred rhetoric. Its only rival is the De Doctrina Christiana of Augustine' (Erasmus and the History of Sacred Rhetoric: The Ecclesiastes of 1535).Bray's extended (25pp) introduction begins in typically exuberant fashion - 'Jesu & Omnia!', dedicating the printing to Edmund [Gibson], Bishop of London [1669-1748] and Edward, Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield. Erasmus' famous preface, revealing his responses to the deaths of More, Fisher, Wareham and Mountjoy, is given in full. Thomas Bray (1656-1730), Commissary of Maryland and founder of SPCK, did much to spread abroad knowledge of significant religious works. 'It was a great service to the cause of Christian knowledge', undertaken for no reward and with 'unspeakable labour and fatigue'.Rare.
