Ecclesiastes, sive Concionator Evangelicus. Liber Primus. De Dignitate, Difficultate, Pietate, Puritate, Pridentia caeterisque virtutibus Ecclesiastae.Cui praefigitur Dissertatio Praeliminaris. RARE BRAY 'ERASMUS'

8vo., First and Sole Edition thus, on laid paper, text in Latin, with several fine woodcut head- and tail-pieces, some slight age-staining (mainly marginal, more pronounced on a handful of leaves); contemporary marbled boards, very neatly rebacked in calf to style, back with four raised bands, second compartment with red leather label lettered in gilt, a remarkably, fresh, crisp, clean copy. First published in 1535, the 'Ecclesiastes' is Erasmus' last and longest work, a detailed treatise on preaching and the offices and duties of priesthood. O'Malley deems it 'a major monument - perhaps the major monument - in the history of sacred rhetoric. Its only rival is the De Doctrina Christiana of Augustine' (Erasmus and the History of Sacred Rhetoric: The Ecclesiastes of 1535).Bray's extended (25pp) introduction begins in typically exuberant fashion - 'Jesu & Omnia!', dedicating the printing to Edmund [Gibson], Bishop of London [1669-1748] and Edward, Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield. Erasmus' famous preface, revealing his responses to the deaths of More, Fisher, Wareham and Mountjoy, is given in full. Thomas Bray (1656-1730), Commissary of Maryland and founder of SPCK, did much to spread abroad knowledge of significant religious works. 'It was a great service to the cause of Christian knowledge', undertaken for no reward and with 'unspeakable labour and fatigue'.Rare.