Praise of folly (1974)

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Praise of folly (1974)
Folio Society
Philosophy

Praise of folly (1974)

Desiderius Erasmus
Edition year 1974
Binding Cloth
Illustrator Hans Holbein
Translator Betty Radice
Weight 1 Kg
Pages 120
Dimensions 25.2 × 15.7 cm

Edition details

Praise of Folly by Erasmus of Rotterdam. Translated with an introduction and notes by Betty Radice. Frontispiece portrait by Quentin Metsijs. 8 plates of ink sketches by Hans Holbein. Bound in red cloth with lettering in black and gold designed by Fiona Campbell. Grey endleaves. White slipcase. 25.2x15.7cm. 120pp.

About the book

In Praise of Folly, Erasmus gives Folly herself the floor to deliver a witty speech about the foolishness that sustains human society. Scholars, rulers, courtiers and churchmen all become targets as she exposes the gap between their claims to wisdom and their actual behaviour. The satire moves from playful paradox towards a more searching consideration of Christian belief and spiritual humility. Written at the beginning of the sixteenth century, this work of Renaissance humanism remains an entertaining and unsettling examination of vanity, self-deception and the comfortable certainties of authority.

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