Erasme

Iohannes Frobenius lectori. Habes iterum Morias Encomium / pro castigatissimo castigatius ; una cum Listrij commentarijs et alijs complusculis libellis non minus eruditis quam festiuis ; quorum catalogum proxima mox indicabit pagella Lvdvs L. Annei Senecæ de morte Claudii Cæsaris. Synesivs Cyrenensis de laudibus Caluitii. Epistola apologetica Ersami Roterodami ad Martinum Dorpium. Bene uale.

1513 · 2454 — Basel: and Strasbourg: and Paris:: Io. Froben and Excusum per Renatum Beck in aedibus zum Thiergarten and Jean Petit In vico Sancti Iacobi 1515 and 1515 and 1513. THIRD FROBEN EDITION of the "Praise of Folly". The two prior editions also appeared in 1515. Written in 1509 as a visitor's gift to Thomas More whose name -Morus- was so aptly similar to the Greek "moros" folly the "Moriae Encomium" was first printed by Gilles de Gourmont at Paris probably in 1511. The first of the Froben editions appeared in 1515. This copy is bound with the "Germania" of Aeneas Sylvius Piccolomini Pope Pius II together with the "Responsio" of Jakob Wimpfeling; and an edition of Lactantius edited by Gilles de Maizières and printed at Paris by Jean Petit. Large Quarto:. 20.2 x 15 cm. 3 works bound in one volume: I. Piccolomini: i-iv A-B4 C8 D-E4 F8 G-H4 I8 K-L4 M8 N-O4 P6. II. Lactantius: A6 B4 a-z8/4 A-D8/4 E6 F-N8/4 O6 P4. III. "Praise of Folly": a-h4 a-z4 A-B4 C6 Bound in contemporary quarter alum-tawed pigskin over wooden boards with working clasps and catches. The pigskin is tooled in blind with repeating vines and floral rolls. The text and binding are beautifully preserved. The contents are fresh and bright with wide margins and a number of deckled edges. Excellent. The "Germania" has a fine title page printed in red and black and surrounded by a fine woodcut border. The printer's beautiful device by Hans Baldung Grien appears on the final leaf. The Lactantius has Jean Petit's device on the title page. The text is adorned with fine floriated criblé initials. A contemporary reader has annotated the "De Opificio Dei" densely in Latin and added a long Latin poem to the final two leaves. The "Praise of Folly" has a fine Holbein border with the decapitation of John the Baptist in the lower register and affine woodcut border with a fool by Urs Graf on the contents leaf. This edition includes the original dedicatory letter to Thomas More whose name Erasmus plays upon cleverly in the title of the work; and the letter to Martin Dorp in which Erasmus explains his motives for writing the "Moria": "My aim in the 'Folly' was exactly the same as in my other works. Only the presentation was different. In the 'Enchiridion' I simply outlined the pattern of a Christian life. In my little book the 'Education of a Christian Prince' I offered plain advice on how to instruct a prince. In my 'Panegyric' I did the same under the veil of eulogy as I had done elsewhere explicitly. And in the 'Folly' I expressed the same ideas as in the 'Enchiridion' but in the form of a joke." The Froben edition is augmented with a number of other texts See the final paragraphs of this description.Praise of Folly:"The 'Praise of Folly' is Erasmus' most famous and controversial work… In Erasmus' lifetime the 'Moria' was condemned in 1527 by the theologians of Paris for its attacks on faith and morality and again in 1533 by the Franciscans who found it full of heresies. The officials of the Sorbonne put it on the list of condemned books in 1542 and 1543 a list that was the basis of the Tridentine Index of 1564…"The 'Moria' may start as a learned joke to amuse a fellow humanist Thomas More but it moves into sharp criticism of contemporary mores and ends with a plea for a return to the Christianity of the Gospels… Erasmus writes in a Lucianic spirit of irreverent burlesque of the gods of classical mythology and light-hearted amusement at the irrationality of mankind. Folly argues that she is all that is natural youthful fecund and happy and that life would be intolerable if it were not ruled by civilized conventions which necessitate a degree of humbug and illusion. By contrast the Stoic ideal rational man is a 'kind of marble statue of a man devoid of sense and any sort of human feeling.' She then shifts her viewpoint and lists the people who enjoy her benefits in so far as they try to preserve their illusions or are happy in their ignorance self-deception or self-love. She even adds superstitious piety to alchemy gambling and the nobility's obsession with hunting and extravagant building…"Next Erasmus starts to deliver a sharp and often bitter attack on all the victims of blind folly those who are deaf to the voice of true religion and lacking the gentler Christian virtues among whom are sycophants self-seekers money-makers pedants scholastics lawyers theologians superstitious worshippers of images and relics courtiers and kings worldly monks and irreligious pontiffs. This section culminates in a savage thrust at Pope Julius II the bellicose pope. The keen wit and ingenuity of the satire can be highly entertaining but there is no note of gaiety now. As Erasmus surveys the gulf between the Church and the 'true philosophy of Christ' he moves into the final section where the alternative offered to barren scholasticism is the vision of reality taken from Plato and folly in the sense used by Saint Paul that of receptivity to the Christian message by the 'fool in Christ.' All irony is dropped until the final short epilogue when Folly light-heartedly cuts short her 'hotch-potch of words'; this is a direct and simply worded account of Erasmus' personal belief moving into an exposition of the Neoplatonist concept that the soul's ascent to beatitude ends in ecstasy a form of folly which is its supreme fulfillment."Betty Radice CWE Vol. 27 pp. 78 ff.Piccolomini's "Germania":Shortly after 1455 Aeneas Sylvius Piccolomini came into possession of the recently rediscovered manuscript of Tacitus' "Germania" the most important ancient account of Germany in the first century. In response to a letter from the Bishop of Mainz lamenting the miserable state of the Holy Roman Empire Piccolomini wrote his "Germania" based on Tacitus' own in which he demonstrates that the present high level of German culture as compared with the barbarous past as presented by Tacitus is an accomplishment of the Church. This edition includes the important response by Jakob Wimpfeling in defense of the ancestors of the Germans.Additional "Moria" texts:The Froben editions of the 'Moria' contain in addition to Erasmus' main text two ancient examples of the mock-encomium Seneca's "Ludus de Morte Claudii Caesaris" and Synesius of Cyrene's "De Laudibus Calvitii" "In Praise of Baldness" translated from the Greek by the Englishman John Phreas d. 1465. In his introductory letter to Thomas More Erasmus cites both the "Ludus" and the "Praise of Baldness" in a pre-emptive defense against those who will object to his literary frivolity "levitas et ludicrum argumenti" pp. 102-104 in this edition. The text of the "Moria" is accompanied by the commentary of Gerard Listrius with assistance from Erasmus. I. "Germania": BM STC German p. 701 = Proctor 10307. Not in Adams. Panzer VI.75.410. Ritter 1878. Muller Bibliographie Strasbourgeoise II 228 no. 26. Schmidt Beck 21. II. Lactantius: Adams L-14; BSB-Ink L-13; HC 9819; Moreau Inventaire chronologique II 637. III. "Praise of Folly": Vander Haeghen I 122; Kossmann 967; Bezzel 1304; Not in De Reuck; BM STC German p. 282; Adams E 392; VD 16E 3184 Io. Froben, and Excusum per Renatu[m] Beck in aedibus zum Thiergarten, and Jean Petit, In vico Sancti Iacobi, 1515 and 1515 and books