Rare first edition of various letters and other short works by John Chrysostom in Greek, edited by Erasmus. Erasmus greatly admired the Church Fathers, as he considered their work to be indispensable for church reform. Earnest Christians could use their texts to liberate themselves from the dead language of current theology and find the living words of the true philosophia Christi. Erasmus not only considered the works of the Church Fathers to be important, but also their character, and wrote biographies about several of them, including Jerome (1516), Chrysostom (1530) and Origen (1536), so their lives could serve as an example. The present work was likely also meant for this purpose. It comprises ten of Chrysostom's shorter work and letters, including a letter to Pope Innocent I, appealing for support during his exile, and a text against anathemas. In the foreword, Erasmus dedicates the work to the humanist and nobleman Karel Utenhove of Ghent (ca. 1500-1580).
With a contemporary annotation on the title page ("Epist. ad Carol Utenhove"), a later ownership inscription ("Olof Wallqui[s]t(?)") and a faded inscription in Greek, slightly later annotations in Latin between the lines and in the margins of some of the leaves. The work has been recased in 17th-century vellum, which is slightly stained and rubbed. The work is lightly browned, with a water stain in the outer margin of page 9-25. Otherwise in good condition. Adams C 1522; USTC 608511; VD16 J 411; cf. Allen, Opus epistolarum Erasmi, 2093; Erasmus Online 4405 (other issue); not in BM STC German; De Reuck.