The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

erudition \er`u*di"tion\ ([e^]r`[-u]*d[i^]sh"[u^]n), n. [L.
   eruditio: cf. F. ['e]rudition.]
   The act of instructing; the result of thorough instruction;
   the state of being erudite or learned; the acquisitions
   gained by extensive reading or study; particularly, learning
   in literature or criticism, as distinct from the sciences;
   scholarship.
   [1913 Webster]

         The management of a young lady's person is not be
         overlooked, but the erudition of her mind is much more
         to be regarded.                          --Steele.
   [1913 Webster]

         The gay young gentleman whose erudition sat so easily
         upon him.                                --Macaulay.

   Syn: Literature; learning. See Literature.
        [1913 Webster]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

erudition
    n 1: profound scholarly knowledge [syn: eruditeness,
         erudition, learnedness, learning, scholarship,
         encyclopedism, encyclopaedism]

Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:

53 Moby Thesaurus words for "erudition":
   Sophia, bibliolatry, bibliomania, bluestockingism, book learning,
   book madness, bookiness, bookishness, booklore, broad-mindedness,
   broadening the mind, classical scholarship, classicism,
   cultivation, culture, depth, donnishness, education, eruditeness,
   good understanding, humanism, humanistic scholarship,
   intellectual acquirement, intellectualism, intellectuality,
   knowledge, learnedness, learning, letters, literacy,
   mastery of skills, mellow wisdom, memorization, mental cultivation,
   mental culture, pedantism, pedantry, profoundness, profundity,
   reading, ripe wisdom, sageness, sapience, scholarliness,
   scholarship, science, seasoned understanding, self-instruction,
   sound understanding, storing the mind, studiousness, wisdom,
   wiseness



The Devil's Dictionary (1881-1906):

ERUDITION, n.  Dust shaken out of a book into an empty skull.

    So wide his erudition's mighty span,
    He knew Creation's origin and plan
    And only came by accident to grief --
    He thought, poor man, 'twas right to be a thief.
                                                           Romach Pute