Desiderius Erasmus, d. 1536

(Greek New Testament). Novvm testamentum. Basel: Johann Froben, 1522.

Around 1511, Erasmus began a scholarly comparison of the Bible in Greek and the Latin Vulgate, the most common Latin version of the Bible. He simultaneously edited the Greek New Testament for publication and updated the Vulgate based on the Greek text. His completed work, published in 1516, was the first New Testament to be printed in its original language. Erasmus provided the Latin and Greek texts in parallel columns, alternate translations, and commentary.

• Call number: Vault Collection Quarto 094.2 F92 1522

Moriae encomium (The Praise of Folly). Basel: Johann Froben, 1521.

Erasmus’ satirical work, first published in 1511, lampoons corrupt and superstitious traditions in the Roman Church. It influenced many early Protestant reformers. The Greek title Moriae encomium is a pun on the name of the work's dedicatee, Erasmus' friend Sir Thomas More. This edition also contains scholarly works by Beatus Rhenanus, a German-born humanist scholar and another friend of Erasmus.

• Call number: Vault Collection 094.2 F92 1519 #3

De libero arbitrio diatribe (Diatribe on free will). Basel: Johann Froben, 1526.

First published in 1524, the Diatribe criticizes Luther’s views on free will. Luther responded the following year by attacking Erasmus in the treatise De servo arbitrio (On the bondage of the will).

Call number: Vault Collection 094.2 F92 1526

Sileni alcibiadis (Alcibiades' Silenus). Paris: Robert Estienne, 1527.

Erasmus' essay takes its name from a passage in Plato's Symposium where the Athenian statesman Alcibiades compares Socrates to statuettes of the ugly satyr Silenus. The statuettes could be opened up, revealing images of the gods placed inside. Erasmus urges the leaders of the Roman church to truly follow the examples of Christ and the apostles as found in the New Testament, who, though they were mocked for their common appearance and worldly insignificance, possessed inner qualities of spirituality and holiness.

• Call number: Vault Collection 094.2 Es86d 1527 no. 15