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Colloquies: Collected Works of Erasmus Vol. 39-40
Colloquies Collected Works of Erasmus Vol 3940 Author:Erasmus Erasmus' Familiar Colloquies grew from a small collection of phrases, sentences, and snatches of dialogue written in Paris around 1497 to help his private pupils improve their command of Latin. Twenty years later the material was published by Johann Froben (Basel 1518). It was an immediate success and was reprinted thirty times in the next four... more » years. For the edition of March 1522 Erasmus began to add fully developed dialogues, and a book designed to improve boys' use of Latin (and their deportment) soon became a work of literature for adults, although it retained traces of its original purposes. The final Froben edition (March 1533) had about sixty parts, most of them dialogues.It was in the last form that the Colloquies were read and enjoyed for four centuries. For modern readers, it is one of the best introductions to European society of the Renaissance and Reformation periods, with lively descriptions of daily life and provocative discussions of political, religious, social, and literary topics, presented with Erasmus' characteristic wit and verve. Each colloquy has its own introduction and full explanatory, historical, and biographical notes.« less