Desiderii Erasmi Roterodami Liber utilissimus de conscribendis epistolis, continens artificium & praecepta in earum compositione observanda. Editio nova, diligenter ab erratis expurgata.

12mo. 470,(33),(1 blank) p., frontispiece. Calf 13 cm The definitive work on the subject (Ref: Spoelder p. 644: Middelburg 5;) (Details: Prize copy, but without the prize. Back ruled gilt, with a red morocco letterpiece. The boards have gilt borders. In the center of both boards the gilt coat of arms of Middelburg. The frontispiece depicts Erasmus in his study, writing a letter. On the title a woodcut printer’s mark, depicting Hercules, club at hand, and the Nemean lion under a tree, the motto reads: ‘Virtus nescia vinci’, ‘Virtue doesnot know defeat’) (Condition: Some wear to the extremes. Front flyleaf removed. The blank upper margin of the frontispiece slightly cut short) (Note: The genesis of the treatise ‘De conscribendis epistolis’ of the Dutch humanist and scholar Desiderius Eramus, 1566/69-1536, is rather complicated. The genuine edition, authorized by Erasmus, was first published in Basel by Froben in 1522. In the short preface to this work, repeated also in this edition of 1670, Erasmus explains that he feels obliged to publish this work, because a kind of pirate edition had been published in England recently (i.e. ‘Libellus de conscribendis epistolis’, published in 1521 by John Siberch, in Cambridge) without his knowledge and consent. It was pirated from a copy of an old manuscript work of him on the art of writing letters, which he wrote, he continues, about 30 years ago (annis abhinc ferme triginta, ca. 1492) in Paris at the request of a friend. Erasmus is very unhappy with this English edition, because it is ‘non solum rude, sed & truncum et mutilum’. And now he offers the reader a completely revised and expanded treatment. The emphasis in the treatment remains clearly pedagogical. Erasmus gives an elaborate lesson on the presentation of the subject matter, illustrating how the teacher should give an outline of the subject to be treated, define it in some detail, provide material from the classical authors, and his own work) (Collation: A-X12 (leaf X12 verso blank)) (Photographs on request)