The edition of the New Testament, edited by Erasmus at the instance of Froben, was based in part upon the previous labours of Laurentius Valla, to whom must be given the honour of having been the first to attempt a revision of the text by a comparison of authorities. In fact, some time before beginning work on his New Testament, Erasmus had edited for Froben a volume containing the annotations of Valla. In April, 1515, Beatus Rhenanus writes to Erasmus from Basel: “Froben wants you to place in his hands your proposed edition of the New Testament, and promises that he will give for your work as much as anybody.”[108] A sentence so worded, written by one literary man to another, has quite a modern sound, giving the impression that several publishers were prepared at this time to bid against each other for the editorial service of the first scholar of Europe. As a fact, however, such a work as was projected could at this time have been undertaken in but three or four places, while only two or three publishers possessed the knowledge, the enterprise, or the plant requisite for its production. The New Testament with the Erasmian notes might have been printed in Paris, as far as the facilities for Greek type were concerned, but the influence of the Theological Faculty of the Sorbonne was entirely unfavourable to the presentation to the public of any critical or analytical work on the Scriptures, and it was very difficult, if not impracticable, for a university publisher to handle successfully a work in the department of theology, of which the Sorbonne disapproved. Koberger of Nuremberg had publishing facilities adequate for such an undertaking, but Koberger appears to have associated himself with the more conservative group of Catholic scholars, and to this group the Testament of Erasmus, with its critical notes, seemed to be a very dangerous innovation. The result showed that there was ground for their misgivings, as the Testament of Erasmus was to prove of most vital service to the cause of the Reformation, although the learned editor himself was at the time regarded with suspicion, if not with enmity, by the larger number of Protestant leaders. There remained the Press of Aldus; the Venetian would unquestionably have been very ready to take charge of the book, and his Press possessed at the time larger facilities for the printing of Greek than could be offered by Froben, or than existed outside of Venice. Erasmus appears, however, to have decided that for the purposes of this work Basel was a better centre of distribution than Venice, and it was doubtless the case that a much larger circle of readers could be looked for in Switzerland, Germany, and other regions to be conveniently reached from Basel, than was to be found in the market more immediately at the command of Venice.