This first complete edition presents a varied collection of humorous anecdotes drawn from both Classical authorities, such as Macrobius, Quintilian, Diogenes Laertius, and Martial, and the authors own 16th-century milieu, in which figures like Erasmus (1469-1536) and Thomas More (1478-1535) appear alongside ancient voices. The first edition of the work, printed in 1524, contained two books, the present work is the first to offer the collection in its expanded three book form. The author, the famous Dutch humanist Adriaan van Baarland, (or Hadrianus Barlandus, ca. 1486-1538), was born in the Zeeland village that gave him his name and may have belonged to the local nobility. He studied at the University of Louvain, earning his magister artium degree in 1505, and went on to teach at several of its colleges, including the Pig College (from 1512) and the Collegium Triligue (from 1518). In 1525 he was appointed professor of rhetoric at Louvain, a post he held until his death. Barlandus also taught prominent pupils such as the De Croÿ brothers Guillaume (Prince-Bishop of Cambrai and Archbishop of Toledo, 1497-1521) and Charles (Bishop of Tournai, 1506-1564).
With a small (library?) stamp on the front board. Otherwise in very good condition. Contemporaries of Erasmus I, pp. 95-96; Meertens, "Letterkundig leven in Zeeland in de zestiende en de eerste helft der zeventiende eeuw" (1943), pp. 27-41; Nijhoff & Kronenberg 230; STCV 12923765 (1 copy); USTC 437448; Vander Haeghen, Bibl. Belgica B 260.