Collected Works of Erasmus Volumes 39 and 40: Colloquies

Desiderius Erasmus; Craig R. Thompson [ed]

ISBN 10: 0802058191 / ISBN 13: 9780802058195

Published by University of Toronto Press, 1997

About this Item

2 volume set. Minor shelf wear to brown cloth hardcovers. Owner name and date on title page. Both volumes have about 60 pages each with ink MARKINGS and some HIGHLIGHTING. Dust jackets have a bit of shelf wear and a small ink volume number under title. Otherwise these are nice volumes. Index. xlix, 1227 pp.

Seller Inventory # 066483

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Collected Works of Erasmus Volumes 39 and 40: Colloquies
• Publisher: University of Toronto Press
• Publication Date: 1997
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0802058191
• ISBN 13: 9780802058195
• Binding: Hardcover
• Condition: Good
• Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good

About this title

Synopsis

Erasmus' Familiar Colloquies grew from a small collection of phrases, sentences, and snatches of dialogue written in Paris about 1497 to help his private pupils improve their command of Latin. Twenty years later the material was published by Johann Froben (Basel 1518). It was an immediate success and was reprinted thirty times in the next four years. For the edition of March 1522 Erasmus began to add fully developed dialogues, and a book designed to improve boys' use of Latin (and their deportment) soon became a work of literature for adults, although it retained traces of its original purposes. The final Froben edition (March, 1533) had about sixty parts, most of them dialogues.

It was in the last form that the Colloquies were read and enjoyed for four centuries. For modern readers it is one of the best introductions to European society of the Renaissance and Reformation periods, with lively descriptions of daily life and provocative discussions of political, religious, social, and literary topics, presented with Erasmus's characteristic wit and verve. Each colloquy has its own introduction and full explanatory, historical, and biographical notes.

Volumes 39 and 40 of the Collected Works of Erasmus series – Two-volume set.

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.
The late Craig R. Thompson was Emeritus Professor of English Literature, University of Pennsylvania. He was for many years a member of the Editorial Board of the Collected Works of Erasmus and has edited and translated a number of Renaissance texts, including the CWE 23-24.