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Important for the biography of Erasmus, including hitherto unplushing letters by Erasmus

ERASMUS, Desiderius & Petrus SCRIVERIUS (ed.).
Magni Des. Erasmi Roterodami vita; partim ab ipsomet Erasmo, partim ab amicis æqualibus fideliter descripta; accedunt epistolæ illvstres plus quam septuaginta, quas ætate provectiore scripsit, nec inter vulgatas in magno volumine comparent. P. Scriverii, & fautorum auspicijs.

Title with woodcut printer's device, woodcut roundel with portrait of Erasmus on leaf 5, woodcut initials.

Leyden, G. Basson, 1615. 12mo. Contemporary vellum, title in ink on spine. Title with woodcut printer's device, woodcut roundel with portrait of Erasmus on leaf 5, woodcut initials. (24), 286, (2 blank). Collation: *12, A-M12 (M12 blank).

Important collection of sources for the biography of Desiderius Erasmus (1469-1536), put together and edited by Petrus Scriverius on the basis of the 1607 edition by Merula of the Compendium vitae, including a number of new sources and four hitherto unpublished letters by Erasmus. The humanist and independent scholar Petrus Scriverius (1576-1660) worked in Leiden outside the University, but he was in continuous contact with the most famous Leiden professors. Scriverius added commentaries and connecting texts by which the collection gained weight as materials for Erasmus' biography. Also through the later editions, edited by Thysius, and published by Joannes Maire in 1642 and 1649, the collection became very influential regarding the 'image' Erasmus had in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries before the first critical biography of Erasmus was published by Joannes Clericus in 1705.

After the title (with on its verso a 'Liber ad lectorum' (by Scriverius), dated Leiden, 28 March 1615), the dedication to the magistrate, including Hugo Grotius, of Rotterdam by Basson, citations on Erasmus by himself, Paulus Jovius, and Lepidus, and epitaphs by Scaliger, Joannes Secundus, Theodorus Beza, Scriverius himself and others, and the 'Termini effigies ex annulo Erasmi signatorio expressa' (on the signet ring of Erasmus with woodcut illustration) by Joannes Schofferus, the 'Vita' follows on pp. 1-115, including Erasmus' autobiography (pp. 1-8), the biography by Beatus Rhenanus (pp. 9-49), letters by Erasmus to Lambertus Grunnius (and his response), Pater Servatius, and Hestor Boeotius Deidionanus (pp. 49-95), a list of Erasmus' works (pp. 96-104), and two othr letters by Erasmus (pp. 104-115); with a separate half title follow Erasmus' letters to his friends, including Conradus Goclenius, Eobanus Hessus, Joannes de Hont, Bilibaldus Pirckheimer, Joannes Oecolampadius, Petrus Vulcanius, Cornelius Graphaeus, Damianus a Goës, and others (pp. 117-286).

Good copy.- (Title sl. soiled).

Vander Haeghen 182; Knaake II, 355a; P. Tuynman, 'Petrus Scriverius (1576-1660)', in: Quaerendo, 7 (1977), pp. 4-45, esp. 23-4.

Related Subjects: Biography Erasmus History Philosophy Rotterdam

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