Erasmus in English, 1523-1584

Although not translated into English until 1549, Erasmus's most famous work, the Praise of Folly, has an English provenance as the product of his friendship with Thomas More. The text of the original translation, by Thomas Chaloner, appears here for the first time in a fully annotated, modernised edition. It is presented alongside a selection from the English Paraphrases, a central text of the Edwardian Reformation; translations of two pacifist works, the Bellum Erasmi and The Complaint of Peace, the second of which is constructed as an oration, like Praise of Folly; and the essay on the adage Sileni Alcibiadis.