Information
Paris, Jean Barbier, 14 March 1506.[i.e.1507]. In 4th, 202 x 145 mm. Printer's mark on the title page. Tied with. Varia epigramata. Paris, Jean Barbier, 18 March 1506 [i.e.1507]. Engraved drop caps, humidity marks on the white internal margin of some fascicles, restoration on the white margin of the last leaf of the Epigrammata, without loss, otherwise a fine copy, contemporary binding in loose parchment. Modern ex libris on the pastedown.
Specialist Notes
Excellent copy of the rare fourth edition of Erasmus' Adagia together with the first edition of his Epigrams.
For several decades, Erasmus of Rotterdam (1466-1536) collected proverbs and sayings coming from classical culture, especially Greek. He identified their source, the authors who had used them, the variations recorded over time, their ability to survive; finally he commented on its meaning and the various interpretations. They are the famous Adagia: a remote premonition of Encyclopedism of the Enlightenment. In Erasmus the philological examination becomes criticism of the civil motives of his times, and his times become the mirror of a universal humanity to be observed with a tolerant and acute eye. Thus the Adagiaconstitute the fragments of an anthropological and moral meditation of philosophical depth, to be opposed, like a wall of defense, to the stupidity and cruelty of the times.
«The < i>Adagia – writes the editor – appear as an arsenal of the word. The word can precisely counteract brutality and war, it can alleviate widespread madness and transform it into wisdom. Collecting mottos, words, phrases is the defense tool that the humanist hopes to be able to use to illuminate the world. In this, it can be said, the Adagia are a book comparable to the great late medieval and humanistic novelistic tradition, which in turn drew inspiration from the anecdotal collections of the past. Erasmo's work is perhaps the most effective link between tradition and modernity. A non-obvious and not easy synthesis, which appears to absolutely mirror the spirit of the times in which Erasmus lived and of the times that followed his lesson: times of deep divisions and bloodshed; times of prohibitions and censorship, of war waged by orthodoxy against so-called harmful books and the free circulation of ideas". (Davide Canfora, editor of the Sellerio edition of Adagia, 2013).
For several decades, Erasmus of Rotterdam (1466-1536) collected proverbs and sayings coming from classical culture, especially Greek. He identified their source, the authors who had used them, the variations recorded over time, their ability to survive; finally he commented on its meaning and the various interpretations. They are the famous Adagia: a remote premonition of Encyclopedism of the Enlightenment. In Erasmus the philological examination becomes criticism of the civil motives of his times, and his times become the mirror of a universal humanity to be observed with a tolerant and acute eye. Thus the Adagiaconstitute the fragments of an anthropological and moral meditation of philosophical depth, to be opposed, like a wall of defense, to the stupidity and cruelty of the times.
«The < i>Adagia – writes the editor – appear as an arsenal of the word. The word can precisely counteract brutality and war, it can alleviate widespread madness and transform it into wisdom. Collecting mottos, words, phrases is the defense tool that the humanist hopes to be able to use to illuminate the world. In this, it can be said, the Adagia are a book comparable to the great late medieval and humanistic novelistic tradition, which in turn drew inspiration from the anecdotal collections of the past. Erasmo's work is perhaps the most effective link between tradition and modernity. A non-obvious and not easy synthesis, which appears to absolutely mirror the spirit of the times in which Erasmus lived and of the times that followed his lesson: times of deep divisions and bloodshed; times of prohibitions and censorship, of war waged by orthodoxy against so-called harmful books and the free circulation of ideas". (Davide Canfora, editor of the Sellerio edition of Adagia, 2013).
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