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The Toronto Erasmus project is a magnificent achievement, one of the scholarly triumphs of our time. The succession of fine volumes - both in quality of content and of design and production - since the edition began in 1974 has continued to fulfill the original promise of the distinguished team of editors and the equally distinguished advisory committee. Lisa Jardine, Common Knowledge The critically acclaimed Collected Works of Erasmus in an eventual 89 volumes from University of Toronto Press is now over halfway to completion. The series, which has been praised by scholars, critics, and students worldwide, is expected to be complete by 2030. These works, translations of Erasmus' writings into English with introductions and full annotation, bring to life for today's readers the wisdom, rhetoric, and learning of one of the architects of modern thought. With this reprint of the first volume, Letters 1 to 141, all of the published volumes of Erasmus' correspondence are available once again. Erasmus himself regarded his letters as a form of literature, and they were valued in his time, as they are now, as much for their style as for their content. This first volume in the series includes a number of youthful rhetorical attempts, letters describing his early vicissitudes as he struggled to maintain himself as a scholar, letters to friends and letters about enemies, letters to patrons and prospective patrons, and the beginnings of the more serious intellectual correspondence of his later years in an exchange of letters with John Colet on the subject of Christ's agony.
About the author
Desiderius Erasmus (c. 1466–1536), a Dutch humanist, Catholic priest, and scholar, was one of the most influential Renaissance figures. A professor of divinity and Greek, Erasmus wrote, taught, and travelled, meeting with Europe’s foremost scholars. A prolific author, Erasmus wrote on both ecclesiastic and general human interest subjects.
Summary
This volume includes a number of youthful rhetorical attempts, letters describing his early vicissitudes as he struggled to maintain himself as a scholar, letters to friends and letters about enemies, letters to patrons and prospective patrons, and the beginnings of more serious intellectual correspondence.
