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Reviewed by:
  • The Correspondence of Erasmus: Letters 1802 to 1925. Collected Works of Erasmus, vol. 13, and: The Correspondence of Erasmus: Letters 1926 to 2081. Collected Works of Erasmus, vol. 14
  • Willis G. Regier
Desiderius Erasmus. The Correspondence of Erasmus: Letters 1802 to 1925. Collected Works of Erasmus, vol. 13. Trans. Charles Fantazzi. Ann. James K. Farge. Toronto: U of Toronto P, 2010. 574 pages.
Desiderius Erasmus. The Correspondence of Erasmus: Letters 1926 to 2081. Collected Works of Erasmus, vol. 14. Trans. Charles Fantazzi. Ann. James M. Estes. Toronto: U of Toronto P, 2011. 503 pages.

Entering his sixties Erasmus complained, “These days more than half of my time is devoted to reading and writing letters, which are many and prolix and often unpleasant” (14.146). Letters had long since been a duty and excuse: “If I dedicated myself to nothing else I could scarcely keep up with the letters that speed their way to me from all parts of the world, not always pleasant nor of the kind that can be answered in a few words” (13.482). In the latest volumes of the Collected Works of Erasmus (hereafter CWE) the University of Toronto Press continues one of the most ambitious, meticulous, and essential scholarly projects now underway.

Erasmus began publishing collections of his correspondence in 1515 and kept publishing them for the rest of his life, first as models of epistolary style, later as sorties and defenses in the religious strife of the 1520’s and 30’s: 155 of the 287 letters in CWE 13 and 14 were published by Erasmus himself in his Selectae epistolae (1528), Opus epistolarum (1529), Epistolae floridae (1531), or within other works. For most, this is the first English translation.

Volumes 13 and 14 of the Correspondence (22 are projected) cover Erasmus’ correspondence from 28 March 1527 through 1528, a period that witnessed Henry VIII’s maneuvering for a divorce, war between Francis I and Charles V, murderous divisions in Christendom, and the steadily expanding power of print. Erasmus wrote, “I have had the ill fortune of growing old in these times” (13.153). When Johann Froben, his beloved friend and favorite printer, died in October 1527 he wrote, “The death of my own brother I bore with resignation, the loss of Froben I cannot bear” (13.421). He felt “the world is heading in a fatal spiral” (14.61). CWE 13 and 14 are not light reading.

CWE 13 and 14 are based on volume 7 of P. S. Allen and H. M. Allen’s Opus epistolarum Des. Erasmi Roterodami (Oxford, 1906–58), indispensable but accessible only to readers at ease with Latin. The editors of the Toronto volumes often refer to the Allens’ edition, helpfully key translations to their text, but make independent decisions about the dating and provenance of letters. An appendix to CWE 14 by John H. Munro, “The Coinages and Monetary Policies [End Page 1152] of Henry VIII” (his third such contribution to the CWE), illuminates the many letters that deal with Erasmus’ tangled finances. Because Erasmus felt that “the chief commendation of a translator, as of a historian, is fidelity” (13.206), Charles Fantazzi’s translations deserve a double dose of commendation: they clearly convey both the sense and spirit of the correspondents.

After experimenting back and forth, the CWE has finally settled on footnotes. The editors horribly placed the notes for CWE 27 in CWE 28. Three volumes of the Adages (CWE 31–36) have endnotes, three have footnotes. All volumes of the Correspondence except CWE 7 and 8 have footnotes, fortunately. Fantazzi’s translation is best taken andante; the placement of notes permits it. James K. Frage and James M. Estes annotated thoroughly and well. Footnotes identify quotations and allusions, peer into obscurities, connect the letters to each other and to Erasmus’ other works. Headnotes note the occasion and author of each letter, with what certainty it can be dated, and when it was first published; they identify letters that have been lost or destroyed, distinguish those Erasmus wrote himself from those he dictated or which only survive in copies, and locate where surviving autographs are kept. Ample indexes will assist scholars who seek...

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