Seven autograph letters of Erasmus

Single Item

MS. Lat. misc. c. 20

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Seven autograph letters of Erasmus, addressed to Erasmus Schets, Antwerp merchant, and dated June 11th (fol. 47), July 30th (fol. 54), and Dec. 6th, 1534 (fol. 58), Feb. 21st (fols. 61-2), June 13th (fol. 65), and June 28th, 1535 (fol. 68), and June 1st, 1536 (fol. 71)
Preceded by modern copies of thirty-three other letters, A.D. 1525-34, of which the originals were purchased by the British Museum at the same time that the remaining seven were bought for the Bodleian
At fol. 76 is an original letter from Eustace Chapuys to Schets, dated Sept. 23rd, 1536, which has been printed in the Bulletin de l'Académie royale de Bruxelles, 1842, tom. ix, no. 5.

Additions:(fols. 82-3) Account by Desiderius Erasmus of his money and valuables, 1534, edited by P. S. Allen, BQR, 2 (1917-19), 142-4.

Dates

Creation: Written in 1534-1536 by Erasmus

Extent

80 Leaves

Language of Materials

Latin

Preferred Citation

Oxford, Bodleian Libraries [followed by shelfmark and folio or page reference, e.g. MS. Lat. misc. c. 20, fols. 1-2]

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Shelfmark:

MS. Lat. misc. c. 20

Collection ID (for staff)

CMD ID 10193

Additional Description

Abstract

Seven autograph letters of Erasmus

Biographical / Historical

Desiderius Erasmus (1466-1536) was a humanist and theologian.

Other Finding Aids

Falconer Madan, et al., A summary catalogue of western manuscripts in the Bodleian Library at Oxford which have not hitherto been catalogued in the Quarto series (7 vols. in 8 [vol. II in 2 parts], Oxford, 1895-1953; reprinted, with corrections in vols. I and VII, Munich, 1980), vol. VI, no. 35596

Custodial History

Formed part of a larger collection acquired before 1842 by monsigner de Ram, rector of the university of Louvain (d. 1865), and continued in the possession of his family, although lost to sight, until 1912, when the whole collection was offered for sale by m. Louis Neve of Louvain, its then owner.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

At the instigation of mr. P. S. Allen, fellow of Merton college, a fund was raised for the purchase of these eight letters, and they were presented to the Library by the subscribers, July 15, 1912. The remaining thirty-three letters comprised in m. Neve's collection were at the same time bought by the British Museum. See the Annual Report of the Bodleian Curators for 1912. A letter from Erasmus once in MS. Autogr. c. 9 at fol. 74 has in 1914 been transferred to the present volume as fol. 80.

Additions: Bought, Sotheby's 15 April 1918 (Alfred Morrison sale), lot 1522.