Erasmus himself regarded his letters as a form of literature and they were valued in his time, as they are now, as much for their style as for their content. This first volume in the series Collected Works of Erasmus includes a number of youthful rhetorical attempts, letters describing his early vicissitudes as he struggled to maintain himself as a scholar, letters to friends and letters about enemies, letters to patrons and prospective patrons, and the beginnings of the more serious intellectual correspondence of his later years in an exchange of letters with John Colet on the subject of Christ’s agony. These translations of Erasmus’ writings into English come complete with introductions and full annotation, for today’s readers to understand the wisdom, rhetoric and learning of one of the architects of modern thought.