Praise Of Folly

Satirical book written by ErasmusOfRotterdam and dedicated to his friend Thomas More.

It ends with: Wherefore farewell, clap your hands, live and drink lustily, my most excellent disciples of Folly.

The library of Rotterdam recently scanned in the original latin text, as it was published in 1540 in the 'Opera Omnia' (collected works) by one of his pupils. It is available at http://www.bibliotheek.rotterdam.nl/erasmus/erasmus.html Use 'Overzicht' to go to the scanned pages. The little arrows at the bottom can be used to navigate and you can click on any page to get a detailed look.

This is the title page of the first publication in 1511:

--- The Latin title, "Moriae Encomium," can be translated as "A Praise of Folly" or in a more punnish vein "A Praise of More." Erasmus wrote the first version of the book while staying at More's house, and More's Utopia can be seen a kind of rebuttal to Erasmus's work.

If you don't read Latin, ISBN 0300023731 .