Description

In Praise of Folly by Desiderius Erasmus

The greatest of humanist scholars, Desiderius Erasmus was one of the men who ushered in the Renaissance. The leading intellectual of his era, today his most popular work is In Praise of Folly, a satire that even at its most biting is animated by a warm and lively wit. To accompany this new edition, the Folio Society commissioned an introduction from Eamon Duffy, whose Saints and Sinners was recently published by Folio. Erasmus’ playful prose is presented in Betty Radice’s fresh, lively translation, with notes from the scholar A. H. T. Levi. Witty and surreal interpretations of Hans Holbein’s original woodcuts from the award-winning artist Matthew Richardson make a delightful illustrative accompaniment.

Written during a stay with his great friend Thomas More (the Latin title Encomium Moriae is a pun on More’s name), Erasmus uses a tongue-in-cheek personification of Folly to mock human foolishness, especially in those who consider themselves wise. Five centuries on, it’s impossible not to smile at his waspish description of philosophers who act ‘as if they were private secretaries to nature’, lawyers ‘the most self-satisfied class of people’, or a pedant who regards grammatical mistakes as ‘a thing to go to war about’. Erasmus could be caustic, lambasting the failings of a corrupt clergy, including the Pope’s ‘vast sea of profiteering’. He attacked the sale of indulgences, pilgrimages, even theological argument itself. What was the point, he demanded, of debating the immaculate conception when scripture does not mention it? Perhaps unsurprisingly, In Praise of Folly was banned by the Catholic Church. Yet Erasmus himself was a reformer not a rebel. There can be little doubt that had it been written a few years later, In Praise of Folly would have contained some trenchant criticisms of the folly of Luther to sit alongside the ‘varieties of silliness’ that he lambasts in day-to-day Christian life. For, as Erasmus states, ‘man’s mind is so formed that it is far more susceptible to falsehood than to truth’. Erasmus’ great skill is to help his readers delight in human folly even as he exposes it.

Features;

• Folio Society First Impression
• Publisher Folio Society, London; 2014
• Brown Paper Covered Hardback, 168 pp
• Frontispiece and 8 colour illustrations by Matthew Richardson
• Size 230 x 150mm, 800g

Condition: Near Fine – Light Fading to Spine Otherwise Unmarked Copy

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