A Quantitative Study of the Paratexts in Erasmus-Froben Imprints

Abstract

We study the paratexts in Erasmus’ imprints with Johann then Hieronymus Froben of Basel between 1514 and 1536. From Valentina Sebastiani’s bibliography of Johann Froben we observe that Erasmus was a more abundant paratexter than other authors who published with Johann Froben. We supplement that work with a bibliography of Erasmus’ imprints with Hieronymus Froben. We note trends across the Erasmus-Froben corpus, including: a remarkable number of imprints, equally balanced between new editions and re-editions, abundant dedications without correlation to format, indexes in folio volumes especially, a growing attention to errata lists over time. These patterns shed light on one author-printer partnership but also on more general trends in learned publishing in the early 16th century.