Editing Erasmus (section)

==Works==
{{main|Works of Erasmus}}
{{see also|List of Erasmus's correspondents}}
Erasmus was the most popular, most printed and arguably most influential author of the early sixteenth century, read in all nations in the West and frequently translated. By the 1530s, his writings accounted for 10–20% of book sales in Europe.<ref>Galli, Mark, and Olsen, Ted. ''131 Christians Everyone Should Know. Nashville: Holman Reference,'' 2000, 343.</ref> "Undoubtedly he was the most read author of his age."<ref name=nellen>{{cite journal |last1=Nellen |first1=Henk |last2=Bloemendal |first2=Jan |title=Erasmus's Biblical Project: Some Thoughts and Observations on Its Scope, Its Impact in the Sixteenth Century and Reception in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries |journal=Church History and Religious Culture |date=2016 |volume=96 |issue=4 |pages=595–635 |doi=10.1163/18712428-09604006 |jstor=26382868  |issn=1871-241X}}</ref>{{rp|608}} His vast number of Latin and Greek publications included translations, paraphrases, letters, textbooks, plays for schoolboys, commentary, poems, liturgies, satires, sermons, and prayers. A large number of his later works were defences of his earlier work from attacks by Catholic and Protestant theological and literary opponents.

The ''Catalogue of the Works of Erasmus'' (2023)<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Tello |first1=Joan |title=Catalogue of the Works of Erasmus of Rotterdam |journal=A Companion to Erasmus |date=25 January 2023 |pages=225–344 |doi=10.1163/9789004539686_014|isbn=978-90-04-53968-6 }}</ref> runs to 444 entries (120 pages), almost all from the latter half of his life. He usually wrote books in particular classical literary genres with their different rhetorical conventions: complaint, diatribe, dialogue, encomium, epistle, commentary, liturgy, sermon, etc.   His letter to [[Ulrich von Hutten]] on [[Thomas More]]'s household has been called "the first real biography in the real modern sense."<ref name=portrait>{{cite journal |last1=Smith |first1=David R |title=Portrait and Counter-Portrait in Holbein's The Family of Sir Thomas More |journal=The Art Bulletin |date=September 2005 |volume=87 |issue=3 |pages=484–506 |doi=10.1080/00043079.2005.10786256|s2cid=191473158 }}</ref>

From his youth, Erasmus had been a voracious writer. Erasmus wrote or answered up to 40 letters per day,<ref name=gasquet/> usually waking early in the morning and writing them in his own hand. He did not work after dinner. His writing method (recommended in ''De copia'' and ''De ratione studii'')<ref>{{cite book |last1=Moss |first1=Ann |title=Printed Commonplace-Books and the Structuring of Renaissance Thought |date=14 March 1996 |doi=10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198159087.003.0006}}</ref> was to make notes on whatever he was reading, categorized by theme: he carted these [[commonplaces]] in boxes that accompanied him. When assembling a new book, he would go through the topics and cross out commonplace notes as he used them. This catalog of research notes allowed him to rapidly create books, though woven from the same topics. Towards the end of his life, as he lost dexterity, he employed secretaries or amanuenses who performed the assembly or transcription, re-wrote his writing, and in his last decade, recorded his dictation; letters were usually in his own hand, unless formal. For much of his career he wrote standing at a desk, as shown in [[Portrait of Erasmus (Dürer)|Dürer's portrait]].

===Notable writings===
{{Main|Works of Erasmus#Notable writings}}
Erasmus wrote for educated audiences both

* on subjects of humanist interest:<ref>Tello, Joan. ''[https://brill.com/edcollchap/book/9789004539686/BP000013.xml Catalogue of the Works of Erasmus of Rotterdam]''. In Eric MacPhail (ed.), ''A Companion to Erasmus''. Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2023, 225–344.</ref> "Three areas preoccupied Erasmus as a writer: language arts, education, and biblical studies. [...]All of his works served as models of style. [...]He pioneered the principles of textual criticism."<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Rummel |first1=Erika |title=Christian History 145 Erasmus: Christ's humanist by Christian History Institute – Issuu |website=issuu.com |date=2 November 2022 |issue=145 |pages=7, 8 |url=https://issuu.com/christianhistory/docs/ch-145-erasmus |language=en |access-date=17 July 2023 |archive-date=17 July 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230717225250/https://issuu.com/christianhistory/docs/ch-145-erasmus |url-status=live }}</ref> and
* on pastoral subjects: "to Christians in the various stages of lives:[...]for the young, for married couples, for widows," the dying, clergy, theologians, religious, princes, partakers of sacraments, etc.<ref name=pabel1995/>{{rp|58}}

He is noted for his extensive scholarly editions of the [[Works of Erasmus#Latin and Greek New Testaments|New Testament]] in Latin and Greek, and the complete works of numerous [[Church Fathers]]. These formed the basis of the so-called [[Textus Receptus]] Protestant bibles.

The only works with enduring popularity in modern time are his satires and semi-satires: ''[[The Praise of Folly]]'', ''[[Julius Excluded from Heaven]]'' and ''[[Works of Erasmus#The Complaint of Peace (1517)|The Complaint of Peace]]''. However, his other works, such as his several thousand letters, continue to be a vital source of information to historians of numerous disciplines.