ERASMUS (Desiderius).
Apophthegmatum opus cum primus frugiferum, vigilanter ab ipso recognitum autore . . . tum duobus libris in fine adiecta. Basle, H. Froben & N. Episcopius, 1532.
SAMMELBAND OF THREE IMPORTANT EDITIONS
A finely preserved sammelband which contains three very important editions of Erasmus.
I. The first complete edition of the Apophthegmata, first published in six books in 1531, but the demand for it was so great that Froben issued a new edition in the following year which was much expanded with the addition of books seven and eight. This work consists of witty quotations and is the last of this type of work to be undertaken by Erasmus and represents the fullness of his mind in the last years of his life.
II. A supplementary collection of 131 of Erasmus’ letters not included in the first attempt at a complete edition of his correspondence which appeared in 1529 in Basle under the title Opus Epistolarum.
III. First edition of this collection of letters, all of them entirely new. Allen (p. 596) writes that in the summer of 1531, Erasmus sent a number of letters to Basle for Herwagen to print with the title Epistolae Floridae but the editor showed himself lacking in discretion and many passages were left in which Erasmus would have wished suppressed. Accordingly, he had the volume reprinted at Freiburg in the following year in which five letters were omitted, new letters added and expurgations made to some passages.
I. Adams E491. VD 16, E2036. Van der Haeghen I, 15. II. VD 16, E 2951. III. VD 16, E2949. Van der Haeghen I, 100.
