signed first edition Hardcover
1524 · Basel, Antwerp, Cologne
by Erasmus, Desiderius (ca.1466-1536)
Basel, Antwerp, Cologne: Various printers, 1522 to, 1524. THREE of the FIVE BOOKS in FIRST EDITION. Hardcover. Fine. Bound in contemporary calfskin (sympathetic repairs to spine) with panel-stamps featuring monkeys, deer, boar, squirrels, and scrolling vine-work ("the Flemish panel stamp par preference" -Fogelmark, Flemish and Related Panel-stamped Bindings, Evidence and Principles, p.33). With 13th or 14th c. manuscript fragments (marginal glosses from a law codex) used as endpapers. Fine copies of all 5 books with numerous woodcut title borders, historiated initials, and 8 metal-cuts after Hans Holbein. An unidentified 16th c. owner has signed the book "Jodocus pratensis me habet" (not the musician of this name, who died in 1521). Contemporary contents list in red ink on verso of front free endpaper. Contents:
1. Reforming The Sacrament of Penance - with Letters to & from the Dutch Pope Adrian VI
Erasmus, Desiderius (ca.1466-1536)
Exomologesis, sive Modus confitendi, per Erasmum Roterodamu, opus nunc primum & natum & excusum, cum aliis lectu dignis, quorum catalogum reperies in proxima pagella. [Paraphrasis in tertium psalmum: Domine quid multiplicati; Duo diplomata Papae Adriani sexti cum responsionibus; Epistola de morte; Apologia ad Stunicae conclusiones.]
Basel: apud Iohannem Frob.[en], 1524
Octavo: 15 x 10 cm. [72] lvs. Collation: A-I8. Device on title and final leaf.
FIRST EDITION.
First edition of Erasmus' "The Manner of Confessing", Erasmus' contentious discussion of the sacrament of penance and his vision for its reform. The book also includes Erasmus' paraphrase of the third psalm; an exchange of letters with the Dutch Pope Adrian VI, Erasmus' letter to Joost Vroye (Jodocus Gaverius), in which he reflected at length on the many friends he had lost to death; and Diego López de Zúñiga's attack on Erasmus (with Erasmus' response in the form of a letter to the Dominican friar Johannes Faber.)
"'Exomologesis' was written during a brief period when reform of the sacrament of Penance along humanist lines seemed possible and even imminent. The work advocates essentially the transformation of a judgmental and dogmatic institution, represented by 'innumerable labyrinthine questions', into a flexible pastoral instrument, in which the conscience of the sinner is to be guided and consoled by a counsellor intent on moral improvement rather than retribution; the result for penitents is self-knowledge and a 'genuine hatred of their crimes'...
"There are many references in the New Testament to the confession of sins and to the imposition of penalties for sin, but there are no precise instructions on the procedure to be followed. The church had adopted two distinct methods. The austere discipline of public penance leading to absolution in the early church had been superseded gradually by the familiar 'private' penitential system involving auricular confession, absolution, and penance or satisfaction. Penance was not universally recognized as a sacrament until the twelfth century, but it was made an annual obligation by decree of the Fourth Lateran Council in 1215 and became, under the scrutiny of canon lawyers and scholastic theologians, subject to a dense complex of regulations and conditions.
"In one sense the 'Exomologesis' is aimed at Erasmus' Catholic critics, a defence against charges of Lutheranism; but in a wider sense Exomologesis was directed toward all those, beginning perhaps with Pope Clement himself, who might be persuaded of the immense pastoral and psychological benefits to be gained from reforms in procedure and in the training and attitude of confessors. For Erasmus, mercy and consolation were always to be preferred to judgment and retribution, and a sacrament embodying these virtues was most likely to rescue penance from the Reformers' attempts to undermine it."(Heath, Collected Works of Erasmus, Vol. 69: Spiritualia and Pastoralia)
A Letter from Pope Adrian VI.
Of the two letters from the Dutch Pope Adrian VI (Adriaan Florensz Boeyens) included in the "Exomologesis", the one written from Rome on 1 December 1522 (Ep 1324) was of special significance for Erasmus. Erasmus and Adriaan were old friends, and while cardinal, Adriaan had encouraged Erasmus' studies, praised his edition of the New Testament, and defended him against the Louvain theologians. But when Adriaan was elevated to the papacy, Erasmus became anxious that his detractors in Rome would turn the pope against him. He was therefore greatly relieved when -in January 1523- he received from the pope this letter of good will, which Erasmus would refer to as the "Breve aureum". Erasmus, confident in Adrian's support, would often cite the letter when attacked by his adversaries. However, Adriaan would die in September 1523 and Erasmus would lose a friend and powerful ally.
The letter to Joost Vroye.
Erasmus' letter to Joost Vroye is deeply personal and preserves the specifics of certain episodes in Erasmus' life not recorded elsewhere. The letter was occasioned by the death of Jan de Neve, a friend to both Erasmus and Vroye. After a tender encomium, Erasmus writes about the mercy of a sudden death for people who are slowly dying in physical agony (he takes this opportunity to discuss the agony caused him by kidney stones), anecdotes about people dying from overwhelming joy, his surprise that he himself has lived so long (Erasmus was approaching 60). Erasmus writes at length about other good friends whom he has lost over the years, in England, Italy, Germany, and Leuven. In discussing the great Italian humanists -now dead- whom had met while in Italy, Erasmus treats us to an anecdote about his dinner at the home of Marc Musurus in Padua. Musurus' aged father, who spoke only Greek, was also present so Erasmus joked around with the man in his native tongue. Erasmus then considers his own death, happy that he will not be a burden to anyone while dying, and expresses the hope that he might die while working, like Hercules, "dying among his labors."
Bibliographical references: Erasmus online (Rotterdam Public Library) 2157; Bibliotheca Erasmiana I,104; Allen 1426; Lew. Kam 91; Mynors 439; Bezzel 1060; BEB 227; VD16 E 2970
[Bound with]
2. The First Illustrated Edition - With Metalcuts after Holbein
Erasmus, Desiderius (ca.1466-1536)
Precatio Dominica in Septem portiones distributa per D. Erasmum Roterodamum. Opus recens ac modo natum, & mox excusum.
[Basel: Johann Froben], 1524
Collation: [20] lvs. Collation: a-b8, c4. No imprint but with Froben's device on the final leaf. Erasmus' epistle dated October 1523. Illustrated with 8 large metal-cuts after drawings by Hans Holbein, and several historiated initials.
FIRST ILLUSTRATED EDITION. The first ed. was published by Froben Oct/Nov 1523. A second illustrated ed., using the same blocks, was printed in Basel in 1524 by Johann Bebel. The book was translated into French, German, English, Polish, Dutch, and Spanish.
"Erasmus describes this as a 'paraphrase' of the Lord's Prayer (Ep 1341A:780-1), by which term he meant an interpretative expansion of the bare text. Significant in other respects, the 'Precatio dominica' therefore must also be interpreted as part of Erasmus' catechetical enterprise.
"As the prefatory letter reveals, Erasmus wrote the 'Precatio dominica' at the request of Justus Ludovicus Decius, and did so quickly. 'I offer you the Lord's Prayer, which I have divided into seven parts as you asked me to do and as I see others have done. Yet I think it is as wrong to separate the last two clauses, 'And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil/ as it would be to divide 'And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us/. If your devotion is not satisfied by taking seven days to go through the whole work, you can divide each day into seven times for prayer, as I see our predecessors have also done. Farewell."
"The work was printed as a separate work by the Froben press in Basel, probably in late 1523, since the date of the dedicatory letter is 28 October of that year, and in Ep 1408, written to Willibald Pirckheimer on 8 January 1524, Erasmus says that Decius had not received the copy of the work that Erasmus had sent him."(Grant, Collected Works of Erasmus, Vol. 69: Spiritualia and Pastoralia)
The engravings:
"Sets of proofs exist of the cuts only, on separate leaves, with headings in three languages -Latin (Berlin), German (Basel), and French (British Museum). The engraver was C V, who has signed many blocks. After a frontispiece, in which Christ instructs the Apostles in the use of the Lord's prayer, seven subjects follow illustrating clauses of the prayer for devotions on every day of the week, showing God the Father ('Pater noster' -Sunday), the Descent of the Holy Ghost ('adveniat regnum' -Monday), Christ bearing the Cross ('fiat voluntas tua' -Tuesday), Communion ('panem nostrum' -Wednesday, Christ releasing prisoners ('et remitte nobis' -Thursday), Job tempted ('et ne nos inducas in tentationem' -Friday), and a death-bed ('sed libera nos a malo' -Saturday)."(Engravers in Metal after Holbein, Burlington Magazine, Vol. 83, No. 488, Holbein Number (Nov., 1943), p. 285)
Bibliographical references: Erasmus online (Rotterdam Public Library) 3205; Allen ep. 1393; Knaake II, 245; Mynors 709; Bezzel 1622; VD16 E 3450; Hieronymus, Basler Buchillustration 1500 bis 1545 (1984), p. 488
[Bound with]
3. The Handbook/Dagger of a Christian Soldier
Erasmus, Desiderius (ca.1466-1536)
Enchiridion Militis Christiani, saluberrimis praeceptis refertum, autore D. Erasmo Roterodamo, cui accessit nova mireq[ue] utilis praefatio.
Antwerp: Michaelem Hillenium, 1523
Octavo: [100] lvs. Collation: a-g8, h4, i-n8.
Attractive historiated woodcut border. Small nick in blank margin of t.p., Leaf i7 with tear entering text without loss. Printed by the Antwerp bookbinder-printer-bookseller-publisher Michiel Hillen (a. 1476-1558). Born at Hoochstraten, Hillen became active -first as a bookbinder- in Antwerp in 1506. Among the other Erasmian books published by Hillen was the "Vulgatized"(i.e. Catholicized) Dutch translation of Erasmus' New Testament (1526) and the "de Contemptu mundi", bound as item 4 in this sammelband.
The "Enchiridion" was originally published as part of "Lucubratiunculae" at Antwerp, in 1503. It was first published separately at Leipzig in 1515. This edition includes Erasmus' epistle to Paul Volz (1480-1544), dated 14 August, 1518, which has been called "a veritable Erasmian manifesto of the religion of pure spirit"(Renaudet).
"The Enchiridion was completed at Louvain in 1502 and was published with several other pieces in February 1503 by Martens. In December 1504 Erasmus sent the entire 'Lucubratiunculae' to John Colet with an illuminating personal estimation: 'The 'Enchiridion' I composed not in order to show off my cleverness or style, but solely in order to counteract the error of those who make religion in general consist in rituals and observances of an almost more than Jewish formality, but who are astonishingly indifferent to matters that have to do with true goodness. What I have tried to do, in fact, is to teach a method of morals, as it were, in the manner of those who have originated fixed procedures in the various branches of learning'... Much later, in his famous letter to Dorp in defense of the 'Moria', Erasmus reiterates this estimate of his work: 'In the 'Enchiridion' I laid down quite simply the pattern of a Christian life'. (Ep 337:94-5)
"As his book became more widely known, Erasmus expressed his satisfaction with its favorable reception. To Thomas More he recounts with delight: 'My 'Enchiridion' is universally welcome; the bishop of Basel (Cristoph von Utenheim) carries it round with him everywhere -I have seen all the margins marked out in his own hand' (Ep 412:26-8). Praise came from all sides. In making a list of Erasmus' works for his brother, Adriaan Barland cites the 'Enchiridion' first, 'a small book of pure gold, and of the greatest use to all those who have determined to abandon the pleasures of the body, to gird up their loins for the life of virtue and make their way to Christ.'(Ep 492:25-8)" (Fantazzi).
"The 'Enchiridion' purported to be not only coherent in exposition but also comprehensive in its scope. It did not focus on one problem or aspect of the Christian life, but tried to provide 'weapons' that would be useful in whatever circumstances the 'Christian Soldier' found himself. It was in its own way a Summa -or, as Erasmus called it, 'compendiarium quamdam vivendi rationem'- a kind of summary guide to living. Its provisions could of course be amplified, but as it stood it professed to equip its readers with all that was essential to Christian piety, much as Calvin would later claim for his 'Institutes', which he in fact terms in the language of his original title a summa pietatis. Like that work, the 'Enchiridion' prided itself on the simplicity, yet sufficiency, of what it enjoined."(O'Malley, Erasmus: Collected Works, Vol. 66)
The letter to Paul Volz (14 August, 1518):
"I am not moved by the jests of those who scorn this little book as not being learned enough or as one which could be written by any schoolboy... Let this little book not be sharp-witted provided it be pious. Let it not prepare a person for the mental gymnastics of the Sorbonne but for Christian peace of soul. Let it not contribute to theological argument but to a theological life."-Erasmus
"Paul Volz was abbot of the Benedictine monastery of Hugshofen, near Schlettstadt in Alsace, and a man whose life Erasmus considered an example of the precepts which he himself set down in the 'Enchridion.' The letter is an important statement of Erasmus' basic themes. Both the scholastic theologians and the monks come in for some harsh criticism because of their departure from the pure and simple 'philosophy of Christ'. It contains many interesting features, (among them): an emphasis on the conversion of the Turks rather than war against them, for which purpose a commission of pious and learned men would draw up a concise statement of Christian doctrine; and a fairly obvious reference to Luther's Ninety-Five Theses."(Olin, Christian Humanism and the Reformation, Ch. V, p. 109.)
Bibliographical references: Erasmus online (Rotterdam Public Library) 1724; Bibliotheca Erasmiana, I. 80; B. Belg. E-1032; NK 2930; Mynors 337
[Bound with]
4. On Disdaining the World
Erasmus, Desiderius (ca.1466-1536)
Des. Erasmo Roterodami de Contemptu mundi Epistola, quam conscripsit in gratiam ac nomine Theodorici Harlemei Canonici ordinis Divi Augustini.
Antwerp: apud Michaelem Hillenium Hoochstratanum, 1523
Octavo: Collation: [32] lvs. Collation: A-D8
Attractive historiated woodcut border. Single wormhole at edge of text. Printed by the Antwerp bookbinder-printer-bookseller-publisher Michiel Hillen (a. 1476-1558), who also printed item 3 in this sammelband. Over the course of his long career, Hillen printed a number of important books, including a number for the English market, among them Henry VIII's "Assertio" against Martin Luther (1522) and William Tyndale's "practyse of prelates (1530), which criticized Henry VIII's divorce.
"'De contemptu mundi' was published in 1521 with the reluctant consent of the author. In a prefatory epistle to the reader Erasmus declared that he was yielding to the entreaties of his friends and the importunity of his publisher. He had composed the treatise on disdaining the world 'when he was scarcely twenty' on behalf of an acquaintance and to exercise his pen, never thinking that it would be published one day. The jejune composition was an embarrassment to the mature scholar and he felt obliged to ask for the reader's indulgence. The piece, he said in his preface, had been written in a desultory manner and did not express his personal views on monasticism.
"'De contemptu mundi' takes the form of a hortatory epistle written by a certain Theodoricus of Haarlem in order to persuade his nephew Jodocus to enter a monastery. The names of writer and addressee are pseudonyms, and Erasmus chose not to disclose the identity of the man who commissioned the work because he was still among the living at the time of publication.
"The composition is divided into three parts. Chapters 1-7 deal with the topic of contemptus mundi proper. The writer exhorts his nephew to disdain wealth, carnal pleasures, and secular honours, and to meditate on the instability of human fortunes... Chapters 8-11 contain a eulogy of the monastic life which, according to the writer, brings spiritual freedom, pleasure, and peace of mind. There is some indication that Erasmus was reproducing here the arguments by which he himself was inveigled into joining an order. To prevail on the young Erasmus, his guardians recruited the help of Cornelis of Woerden, a comrade of Erasmus' from his childhood days and at the time a resident of the monastery at Steyn. Cornelis, as Erasmus tells us with considerable resentment, was 'painting a wonderful word-picture of their regular life and building up their blessed peace and liberty and concord - in a word, it was to be fellowship with angels. Above all he repeated with emphasis what a supply of books there was and how much leisure time for study ... had you heard the man, you would have thought it must be no monastery but a garden of the Muses.' This recollection of Cornelis' persuasive words could well serve as a summary of chapters 8-11 of 'De contemptu mundi'. Only in the epilogue (chapter 12) did Erasmus speak his mind, warning young men not to enter monastic life rashly and to exercise caution in choosing the right order, since not all monastic communities lived up to their professed ideals.
"This volteface, though unexpected, is not entirely at odds with the author's literary purpose, that of 'practice in writing.' The epistle was, after all, a rhetorical display or epideixis, a genre in which the ability to argue on both sides demonstrated the writer's skills. Indeed, the practice of adding a note of complaint or reproach to eulogies of the monastic life is not without precedent...
"Because the critical tone of chapter 12 stands in sharp contrast to the enthusiastic affirmation of monastic ideals in earlier chapters, a number of scholars have expressed the opinion that the section, as it stands now, could not have been part of the original composition. Their supposition was confirmed in 1981 when Marcel Haverals discovered an early draft of 'De contemptu', written between 1502 and 1513, which lacks chapter 12."(Rummel, Erasmus: Collected Works, Vol. 66)
Erasmus online (Rotterdam Public Library) 1383; NK 804; Mynors 1134
[Bound with]
5. The Prohibition Against Eating Meat during Lent
Erasmus, Desiderius (ca.1466-1536)
Ad Reverendum in Christo P. & illustrem principem Christophorum episcopum Basiliensem, epistola apologetica Erasmi Roterodami, de interdicto esu carnium, deque similibus hominum constitutionibus.
Cologne: in aedibus H. Alop[ecius] (i.e. Hero Fuchs), 1522
Octavo: [24] lvs. Collation: A-C8, single wormhole inside text. Four-part woodcut title border.
An early edition, in the year of the first (Froben), by Hero Fuchs, who styled himself "Alopecius" (Greek for fox). Attractive woodcut border. Very faint dampstain, verso of final leaf dusty, single wormhole.
"A Letter by Desiderius Erasmus Defending his Views Concerning the Prohibition on Eating Meat and Similar Human Regulations" has received notice beyond those interested in Erasmus' theological views, particularly among those interested in culinary history, for there is a great deal of discussion of various types of food, their nutritional value, and their effects on the human body. The book was published in the same year that Ulrich Zwingli, in response to the uproar caused by some printers eating sausages on their lunch break during Lent, preached that the Lenten fast was not mandatory, igniting the Swiss Reformation.
According to Erasmus, the practice of abstaining from meat on certain days has no scriptural authority. Moreover, it is a burden on the poor who depend on meat for their nourishment, while for the rich it is merely an excuse for indulging in luxuries such as mushrooms, lampreys, sturgeon, and trout. Abuses caused by the multiplicity of saints' days are everywhere manifest: the fields lie untilled while men are forced to spend many days in idleness -and idleness leads to mischief. The prohibition of "meats" is too vague to be meaningful and leads -predictably- to inequality:
'For the rich a change of foods is a luxury and a remedy for boredom, and they never have greater pleasure than when they abstain from meat. But meanwhile the poor farmer, gnawing a raw turnip or leek, adds this morsel to his black bran bread; in place of the rich man's mead he drinks sour whey or water from a ditch, at the same time barely supporting by the constant sweat of his brow his wife, little children, and the rest of his household.'
Foods that are deemed allowable (such as fish) are often expensive and, when eaten, excite other "hungers", such as lust.
"So it comes about that the poor suffer hunger and the rich live even more luxuriously. Who does not prefer sheatfish, which I believe is popularly called 'sturgeon,' or trout or moray to smoked pork or mutton? And in these cases too, foods that are not included in the term 'meats' are those that provide more nourishment than beef or mutton, such as tortoise, snails, and snakes; and they provoke even greater lust. And you may find these qualities even in vegetables and in tree fruits. What is the point of abstaining from mutton if you stretch your belly with herbs, dates, figs and raisins, truffles, artichokes, and onions that inflame the sexual organs with lecherousness more than young chickens do? Spiced dates make the body sprightlier than beef. Not one of these is forbidden. In these circumstances the result is that those of meagre fortune are heavily oppressed by such rules, while the rich, although they want for very little, are incited to luxuries."
[The book] is not philological or exegetical in character, but rather pastoral, an appeal, in the form of an open letter, for sincere practice as opposed to empty ritual in Christian life, using the topics of abstinence or fasting, feast days, and clerical chastity as examples, and constitutes at the same time a consideration of the validity of church regulations in these areas.
Erasmus first expressed his views in a private letter to the Bishop of Basel. However, in 1522, a doctor in Basel broke Lenten fast by eating pork, and Erasmus' name (he benefited from a papal dispensation that allowed him to eat meat during Lent for health reasons) was drawn into controversy. He therefore expanded what he had written and had the letter published. In his opening line, referring to the havoc caused by the doctor's culinary offense, Erasmus writes, "In olden times the Calydonian boar caused great confusion, but this disturbance among us has been caused, as I hear, by a domestic pig. (Inventory #: 4886)
1. Reforming The Sacrament of Penance - with Letters to & from the Dutch Pope Adrian VI
Erasmus, Desiderius (ca.1466-1536)
Exomologesis, sive Modus confitendi, per Erasmum Roterodamu, opus nunc primum & natum & excusum, cum aliis lectu dignis, quorum catalogum reperies in proxima pagella. [Paraphrasis in tertium psalmum: Domine quid multiplicati; Duo diplomata Papae Adriani sexti cum responsionibus; Epistola de morte; Apologia ad Stunicae conclusiones.]
Basel: apud Iohannem Frob.[en], 1524
Octavo: 15 x 10 cm. [72] lvs. Collation: A-I8. Device on title and final leaf.
FIRST EDITION.
First edition of Erasmus' "The Manner of Confessing", Erasmus' contentious discussion of the sacrament of penance and his vision for its reform. The book also includes Erasmus' paraphrase of the third psalm; an exchange of letters with the Dutch Pope Adrian VI, Erasmus' letter to Joost Vroye (Jodocus Gaverius), in which he reflected at length on the many friends he had lost to death; and Diego López de Zúñiga's attack on Erasmus (with Erasmus' response in the form of a letter to the Dominican friar Johannes Faber.)
"'Exomologesis' was written during a brief period when reform of the sacrament of Penance along humanist lines seemed possible and even imminent. The work advocates essentially the transformation of a judgmental and dogmatic institution, represented by 'innumerable labyrinthine questions', into a flexible pastoral instrument, in which the conscience of the sinner is to be guided and consoled by a counsellor intent on moral improvement rather than retribution; the result for penitents is self-knowledge and a 'genuine hatred of their crimes'...
"There are many references in the New Testament to the confession of sins and to the imposition of penalties for sin, but there are no precise instructions on the procedure to be followed. The church had adopted two distinct methods. The austere discipline of public penance leading to absolution in the early church had been superseded gradually by the familiar 'private' penitential system involving auricular confession, absolution, and penance or satisfaction. Penance was not universally recognized as a sacrament until the twelfth century, but it was made an annual obligation by decree of the Fourth Lateran Council in 1215 and became, under the scrutiny of canon lawyers and scholastic theologians, subject to a dense complex of regulations and conditions.
"In one sense the 'Exomologesis' is aimed at Erasmus' Catholic critics, a defence against charges of Lutheranism; but in a wider sense Exomologesis was directed toward all those, beginning perhaps with Pope Clement himself, who might be persuaded of the immense pastoral and psychological benefits to be gained from reforms in procedure and in the training and attitude of confessors. For Erasmus, mercy and consolation were always to be preferred to judgment and retribution, and a sacrament embodying these virtues was most likely to rescue penance from the Reformers' attempts to undermine it."(Heath, Collected Works of Erasmus, Vol. 69: Spiritualia and Pastoralia)
A Letter from Pope Adrian VI.
Of the two letters from the Dutch Pope Adrian VI (Adriaan Florensz Boeyens) included in the "Exomologesis", the one written from Rome on 1 December 1522 (Ep 1324) was of special significance for Erasmus. Erasmus and Adriaan were old friends, and while cardinal, Adriaan had encouraged Erasmus' studies, praised his edition of the New Testament, and defended him against the Louvain theologians. But when Adriaan was elevated to the papacy, Erasmus became anxious that his detractors in Rome would turn the pope against him. He was therefore greatly relieved when -in January 1523- he received from the pope this letter of good will, which Erasmus would refer to as the "Breve aureum". Erasmus, confident in Adrian's support, would often cite the letter when attacked by his adversaries. However, Adriaan would die in September 1523 and Erasmus would lose a friend and powerful ally.
The letter to Joost Vroye.
Erasmus' letter to Joost Vroye is deeply personal and preserves the specifics of certain episodes in Erasmus' life not recorded elsewhere. The letter was occasioned by the death of Jan de Neve, a friend to both Erasmus and Vroye. After a tender encomium, Erasmus writes about the mercy of a sudden death for people who are slowly dying in physical agony (he takes this opportunity to discuss the agony caused him by kidney stones), anecdotes about people dying from overwhelming joy, his surprise that he himself has lived so long (Erasmus was approaching 60). Erasmus writes at length about other good friends whom he has lost over the years, in England, Italy, Germany, and Leuven. In discussing the great Italian humanists -now dead- whom had met while in Italy, Erasmus treats us to an anecdote about his dinner at the home of Marc Musurus in Padua. Musurus' aged father, who spoke only Greek, was also present so Erasmus joked around with the man in his native tongue. Erasmus then considers his own death, happy that he will not be a burden to anyone while dying, and expresses the hope that he might die while working, like Hercules, "dying among his labors."
Bibliographical references: Erasmus online (Rotterdam Public Library) 2157; Bibliotheca Erasmiana I,104; Allen 1426; Lew. Kam 91; Mynors 439; Bezzel 1060; BEB 227; VD16 E 2970
[Bound with]
2. The First Illustrated Edition - With Metalcuts after Holbein
Erasmus, Desiderius (ca.1466-1536)
Precatio Dominica in Septem portiones distributa per D. Erasmum Roterodamum. Opus recens ac modo natum, & mox excusum.
[Basel: Johann Froben], 1524
Collation: [20] lvs. Collation: a-b8, c4. No imprint but with Froben's device on the final leaf. Erasmus' epistle dated October 1523. Illustrated with 8 large metal-cuts after drawings by Hans Holbein, and several historiated initials.
FIRST ILLUSTRATED EDITION. The first ed. was published by Froben Oct/Nov 1523. A second illustrated ed., using the same blocks, was printed in Basel in 1524 by Johann Bebel. The book was translated into French, German, English, Polish, Dutch, and Spanish.
"Erasmus describes this as a 'paraphrase' of the Lord's Prayer (Ep 1341A:780-1), by which term he meant an interpretative expansion of the bare text. Significant in other respects, the 'Precatio dominica' therefore must also be interpreted as part of Erasmus' catechetical enterprise.
"As the prefatory letter reveals, Erasmus wrote the 'Precatio dominica' at the request of Justus Ludovicus Decius, and did so quickly. 'I offer you the Lord's Prayer, which I have divided into seven parts as you asked me to do and as I see others have done. Yet I think it is as wrong to separate the last two clauses, 'And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil/ as it would be to divide 'And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us/. If your devotion is not satisfied by taking seven days to go through the whole work, you can divide each day into seven times for prayer, as I see our predecessors have also done. Farewell."
"The work was printed as a separate work by the Froben press in Basel, probably in late 1523, since the date of the dedicatory letter is 28 October of that year, and in Ep 1408, written to Willibald Pirckheimer on 8 January 1524, Erasmus says that Decius had not received the copy of the work that Erasmus had sent him."(Grant, Collected Works of Erasmus, Vol. 69: Spiritualia and Pastoralia)
The engravings:
"Sets of proofs exist of the cuts only, on separate leaves, with headings in three languages -Latin (Berlin), German (Basel), and French (British Museum). The engraver was C V, who has signed many blocks. After a frontispiece, in which Christ instructs the Apostles in the use of the Lord's prayer, seven subjects follow illustrating clauses of the prayer for devotions on every day of the week, showing God the Father ('Pater noster' -Sunday), the Descent of the Holy Ghost ('adveniat regnum' -Monday), Christ bearing the Cross ('fiat voluntas tua' -Tuesday), Communion ('panem nostrum' -Wednesday, Christ releasing prisoners ('et remitte nobis' -Thursday), Job tempted ('et ne nos inducas in tentationem' -Friday), and a death-bed ('sed libera nos a malo' -Saturday)."(Engravers in Metal after Holbein, Burlington Magazine, Vol. 83, No. 488, Holbein Number (Nov., 1943), p. 285)
Bibliographical references: Erasmus online (Rotterdam Public Library) 3205; Allen ep. 1393; Knaake II, 245; Mynors 709; Bezzel 1622; VD16 E 3450; Hieronymus, Basler Buchillustration 1500 bis 1545 (1984), p. 488
[Bound with]
3. The Handbook/Dagger of a Christian Soldier
Erasmus, Desiderius (ca.1466-1536)
Enchiridion Militis Christiani, saluberrimis praeceptis refertum, autore D. Erasmo Roterodamo, cui accessit nova mireq[ue] utilis praefatio.
Antwerp: Michaelem Hillenium, 1523
Octavo: [100] lvs. Collation: a-g8, h4, i-n8.
Attractive historiated woodcut border. Small nick in blank margin of t.p., Leaf i7 with tear entering text without loss. Printed by the Antwerp bookbinder-printer-bookseller-publisher Michiel Hillen (a. 1476-1558). Born at Hoochstraten, Hillen became active -first as a bookbinder- in Antwerp in 1506. Among the other Erasmian books published by Hillen was the "Vulgatized"(i.e. Catholicized) Dutch translation of Erasmus' New Testament (1526) and the "de Contemptu mundi", bound as item 4 in this sammelband.
The "Enchiridion" was originally published as part of "Lucubratiunculae" at Antwerp, in 1503. It was first published separately at Leipzig in 1515. This edition includes Erasmus' epistle to Paul Volz (1480-1544), dated 14 August, 1518, which has been called "a veritable Erasmian manifesto of the religion of pure spirit"(Renaudet).
"The Enchiridion was completed at Louvain in 1502 and was published with several other pieces in February 1503 by Martens. In December 1504 Erasmus sent the entire 'Lucubratiunculae' to John Colet with an illuminating personal estimation: 'The 'Enchiridion' I composed not in order to show off my cleverness or style, but solely in order to counteract the error of those who make religion in general consist in rituals and observances of an almost more than Jewish formality, but who are astonishingly indifferent to matters that have to do with true goodness. What I have tried to do, in fact, is to teach a method of morals, as it were, in the manner of those who have originated fixed procedures in the various branches of learning'... Much later, in his famous letter to Dorp in defense of the 'Moria', Erasmus reiterates this estimate of his work: 'In the 'Enchiridion' I laid down quite simply the pattern of a Christian life'. (Ep 337:94-5)
"As his book became more widely known, Erasmus expressed his satisfaction with its favorable reception. To Thomas More he recounts with delight: 'My 'Enchiridion' is universally welcome; the bishop of Basel (Cristoph von Utenheim) carries it round with him everywhere -I have seen all the margins marked out in his own hand' (Ep 412:26-8). Praise came from all sides. In making a list of Erasmus' works for his brother, Adriaan Barland cites the 'Enchiridion' first, 'a small book of pure gold, and of the greatest use to all those who have determined to abandon the pleasures of the body, to gird up their loins for the life of virtue and make their way to Christ.'(Ep 492:25-8)" (Fantazzi).
"The 'Enchiridion' purported to be not only coherent in exposition but also comprehensive in its scope. It did not focus on one problem or aspect of the Christian life, but tried to provide 'weapons' that would be useful in whatever circumstances the 'Christian Soldier' found himself. It was in its own way a Summa -or, as Erasmus called it, 'compendiarium quamdam vivendi rationem'- a kind of summary guide to living. Its provisions could of course be amplified, but as it stood it professed to equip its readers with all that was essential to Christian piety, much as Calvin would later claim for his 'Institutes', which he in fact terms in the language of his original title a summa pietatis. Like that work, the 'Enchiridion' prided itself on the simplicity, yet sufficiency, of what it enjoined."(O'Malley, Erasmus: Collected Works, Vol. 66)
The letter to Paul Volz (14 August, 1518):
"I am not moved by the jests of those who scorn this little book as not being learned enough or as one which could be written by any schoolboy... Let this little book not be sharp-witted provided it be pious. Let it not prepare a person for the mental gymnastics of the Sorbonne but for Christian peace of soul. Let it not contribute to theological argument but to a theological life."-Erasmus
"Paul Volz was abbot of the Benedictine monastery of Hugshofen, near Schlettstadt in Alsace, and a man whose life Erasmus considered an example of the precepts which he himself set down in the 'Enchridion.' The letter is an important statement of Erasmus' basic themes. Both the scholastic theologians and the monks come in for some harsh criticism because of their departure from the pure and simple 'philosophy of Christ'. It contains many interesting features, (among them): an emphasis on the conversion of the Turks rather than war against them, for which purpose a commission of pious and learned men would draw up a concise statement of Christian doctrine; and a fairly obvious reference to Luther's Ninety-Five Theses."(Olin, Christian Humanism and the Reformation, Ch. V, p. 109.)
Bibliographical references: Erasmus online (Rotterdam Public Library) 1724; Bibliotheca Erasmiana, I. 80; B. Belg. E-1032; NK 2930; Mynors 337
[Bound with]
4. On Disdaining the World
Erasmus, Desiderius (ca.1466-1536)
Des. Erasmo Roterodami de Contemptu mundi Epistola, quam conscripsit in gratiam ac nomine Theodorici Harlemei Canonici ordinis Divi Augustini.
Antwerp: apud Michaelem Hillenium Hoochstratanum, 1523
Octavo: Collation: [32] lvs. Collation: A-D8
Attractive historiated woodcut border. Single wormhole at edge of text. Printed by the Antwerp bookbinder-printer-bookseller-publisher Michiel Hillen (a. 1476-1558), who also printed item 3 in this sammelband. Over the course of his long career, Hillen printed a number of important books, including a number for the English market, among them Henry VIII's "Assertio" against Martin Luther (1522) and William Tyndale's "practyse of prelates (1530), which criticized Henry VIII's divorce.
"'De contemptu mundi' was published in 1521 with the reluctant consent of the author. In a prefatory epistle to the reader Erasmus declared that he was yielding to the entreaties of his friends and the importunity of his publisher. He had composed the treatise on disdaining the world 'when he was scarcely twenty' on behalf of an acquaintance and to exercise his pen, never thinking that it would be published one day. The jejune composition was an embarrassment to the mature scholar and he felt obliged to ask for the reader's indulgence. The piece, he said in his preface, had been written in a desultory manner and did not express his personal views on monasticism.
"'De contemptu mundi' takes the form of a hortatory epistle written by a certain Theodoricus of Haarlem in order to persuade his nephew Jodocus to enter a monastery. The names of writer and addressee are pseudonyms, and Erasmus chose not to disclose the identity of the man who commissioned the work because he was still among the living at the time of publication.
"The composition is divided into three parts. Chapters 1-7 deal with the topic of contemptus mundi proper. The writer exhorts his nephew to disdain wealth, carnal pleasures, and secular honours, and to meditate on the instability of human fortunes... Chapters 8-11 contain a eulogy of the monastic life which, according to the writer, brings spiritual freedom, pleasure, and peace of mind. There is some indication that Erasmus was reproducing here the arguments by which he himself was inveigled into joining an order. To prevail on the young Erasmus, his guardians recruited the help of Cornelis of Woerden, a comrade of Erasmus' from his childhood days and at the time a resident of the monastery at Steyn. Cornelis, as Erasmus tells us with considerable resentment, was 'painting a wonderful word-picture of their regular life and building up their blessed peace and liberty and concord - in a word, it was to be fellowship with angels. Above all he repeated with emphasis what a supply of books there was and how much leisure time for study ... had you heard the man, you would have thought it must be no monastery but a garden of the Muses.' This recollection of Cornelis' persuasive words could well serve as a summary of chapters 8-11 of 'De contemptu mundi'. Only in the epilogue (chapter 12) did Erasmus speak his mind, warning young men not to enter monastic life rashly and to exercise caution in choosing the right order, since not all monastic communities lived up to their professed ideals.
"This volteface, though unexpected, is not entirely at odds with the author's literary purpose, that of 'practice in writing.' The epistle was, after all, a rhetorical display or epideixis, a genre in which the ability to argue on both sides demonstrated the writer's skills. Indeed, the practice of adding a note of complaint or reproach to eulogies of the monastic life is not without precedent...
"Because the critical tone of chapter 12 stands in sharp contrast to the enthusiastic affirmation of monastic ideals in earlier chapters, a number of scholars have expressed the opinion that the section, as it stands now, could not have been part of the original composition. Their supposition was confirmed in 1981 when Marcel Haverals discovered an early draft of 'De contemptu', written between 1502 and 1513, which lacks chapter 12."(Rummel, Erasmus: Collected Works, Vol. 66)
Erasmus online (Rotterdam Public Library) 1383; NK 804; Mynors 1134
[Bound with]
5. The Prohibition Against Eating Meat during Lent
Erasmus, Desiderius (ca.1466-1536)
Ad Reverendum in Christo P. & illustrem principem Christophorum episcopum Basiliensem, epistola apologetica Erasmi Roterodami, de interdicto esu carnium, deque similibus hominum constitutionibus.
Cologne: in aedibus H. Alop[ecius] (i.e. Hero Fuchs), 1522
Octavo: [24] lvs. Collation: A-C8, single wormhole inside text. Four-part woodcut title border.
An early edition, in the year of the first (Froben), by Hero Fuchs, who styled himself "Alopecius" (Greek for fox). Attractive woodcut border. Very faint dampstain, verso of final leaf dusty, single wormhole.
"A Letter by Desiderius Erasmus Defending his Views Concerning the Prohibition on Eating Meat and Similar Human Regulations" has received notice beyond those interested in Erasmus' theological views, particularly among those interested in culinary history, for there is a great deal of discussion of various types of food, their nutritional value, and their effects on the human body. The book was published in the same year that Ulrich Zwingli, in response to the uproar caused by some printers eating sausages on their lunch break during Lent, preached that the Lenten fast was not mandatory, igniting the Swiss Reformation.
According to Erasmus, the practice of abstaining from meat on certain days has no scriptural authority. Moreover, it is a burden on the poor who depend on meat for their nourishment, while for the rich it is merely an excuse for indulging in luxuries such as mushrooms, lampreys, sturgeon, and trout. Abuses caused by the multiplicity of saints' days are everywhere manifest: the fields lie untilled while men are forced to spend many days in idleness -and idleness leads to mischief. The prohibition of "meats" is too vague to be meaningful and leads -predictably- to inequality:
'For the rich a change of foods is a luxury and a remedy for boredom, and they never have greater pleasure than when they abstain from meat. But meanwhile the poor farmer, gnawing a raw turnip or leek, adds this morsel to his black bran bread; in place of the rich man's mead he drinks sour whey or water from a ditch, at the same time barely supporting by the constant sweat of his brow his wife, little children, and the rest of his household.'
Foods that are deemed allowable (such as fish) are often expensive and, when eaten, excite other "hungers", such as lust.
"So it comes about that the poor suffer hunger and the rich live even more luxuriously. Who does not prefer sheatfish, which I believe is popularly called 'sturgeon,' or trout or moray to smoked pork or mutton? And in these cases too, foods that are not included in the term 'meats' are those that provide more nourishment than beef or mutton, such as tortoise, snails, and snakes; and they provoke even greater lust. And you may find these qualities even in vegetables and in tree fruits. What is the point of abstaining from mutton if you stretch your belly with herbs, dates, figs and raisins, truffles, artichokes, and onions that inflame the sexual organs with lecherousness more than young chickens do? Spiced dates make the body sprightlier than beef. Not one of these is forbidden. In these circumstances the result is that those of meagre fortune are heavily oppressed by such rules, while the rich, although they want for very little, are incited to luxuries."
[The book] is not philological or exegetical in character, but rather pastoral, an appeal, in the form of an open letter, for sincere practice as opposed to empty ritual in Christian life, using the topics of abstinence or fasting, feast days, and clerical chastity as examples, and constitutes at the same time a consideration of the validity of church regulations in these areas.
Erasmus first expressed his views in a private letter to the Bishop of Basel. However, in 1522, a doctor in Basel broke Lenten fast by eating pork, and Erasmus' name (he benefited from a papal dispensation that allowed him to eat meat during Lent for health reasons) was drawn into controversy. He therefore expanded what he had written and had the letter published. In his opening line, referring to the havoc caused by the doctor's culinary offense, Erasmus writes, "In olden times the Calydonian boar caused great confusion, but this disturbance among us has been caused, as I hear, by a domestic pig. (Inventory #: 4886)
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