This is a copy of an edition of Erasmus's Adagia, a collection of Greek and Latin moral sayings which was first published in 1500. Revised continuously, it was popular in humanist schools well into the 17th century. Erasmus's pupil Alexander Stewart, illegitimate son of James IV and later Archbishop of St Andrews, appears in it along with his father. We bought this particular copy because of the rich Scottish provenance. Numerous 16th-century inscriptions point to the former owners: Patrick Cockburn, a graduate of St Andrews who taught oriental languages at the Sorbonne and later became the first Protestant minister of Haddington; William Lambe, parson of Conreth; and John Cranston, who would be charged with treason in 1592.