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BRANT, Sebastian (1458-1521). Stultifera navis. Translated from German into Latin by Jacobus Locher (1471-1528) in collaboration with the author. With woodcut illustrations by Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528). Basel: Johann Bergmann, 1 March 1497.
4o (201 x 147 mm). Collation: a-s8 t4 (a1r title, a1v translator's verses to reader, translator's letter to author dated Freiburg, 1 Feb. 1497, a3v various verses by Locher and Brant to each other and to the printer, a7r translator's prologue, a8v author's prologue, b2v text, t1v colophon and printer's device), t2r table of contents, t4v blank). 148 leaves, 1-145 foliated. 30 lines and foliation. Printed marginalia. Types: 2:220G (title and headings), 1:109R (text), 3:77R (printed side-notes). 117 large woodcut illustrations (printed from 112 blocks), of which 3 are full-page, cut by various artists, at least 75 AFTER ALBRECHT DÜRER, most woodcuts with partial woodcut borders, woodcut printer's device. (Occasional light browning and staining, small tear to last leaf affecting a few letters.) Late 19th-century russia, silked doublures and linings, edges stained blue (upper spine end repaired, front hinge starting). Provenance: Charles Samuel Nichols (bookplate); Luigi Arrigoni, Milan (bookseller's ticket); acquired from Goodspeed's Book Shop, 1970.
FIRST LATIN EDITION of the Ship of Fools. The Basel humanist Sebastian Brant describes the sea journey of 112 fools (representing the follies of human weakness and vice) to "Naragonia" the paradise of fools. The fine woodcut illustrations are those commissioned for the first edition (in German) of 1494, also printed by Bergmann at Basel, 75 of which are now attributed to Dürer, who resided in Basel for a few months in 1494. The fools in Dürer's woodcuts are recognized by the bells on their caps. 15 other illustrations are attributed to the Master of Haintz Narr. His fools wear coxcombs instead of bells. "The woodcut illustrations created for the Das Narrenschiff are of immense density and tenseness. Since there was no iconographical tradition for this newly conceived text, the subjects and scenes of the illustrations had to be created entirely new. The images presented are of such convincing force that their equal in design had never before been seen" (A Heavenly Craft, p. 63). The Ship of Fools is the first literary work to announce the discovery of the New World, which is not surprising, since it was Bergmann who published the first German edition of the the Columbus letter, announcing his discovery of the New World, in 1493. RARE: according to American Book Prices Current, only two copies of this edition were sold in the last 35 years. Alden and Landis 497/5; BSB-Ink. B-817; CIBN B-758; Goff B-1086; GW 5054; HC 3746; Harvard/Walsh 1258; Pr 7776; Schreiber 3567; See PMM 37.
4o (201 x 147 mm). Collation: a-s8 t4 (a1r title, a1v translator's verses to reader, translator's letter to author dated Freiburg, 1 Feb. 1497, a3v various verses by Locher and Brant to each other and to the printer, a7r translator's prologue, a8v author's prologue, b2v text, t1v colophon and printer's device), t2r table of contents, t4v blank). 148 leaves, 1-145 foliated. 30 lines and foliation. Printed marginalia. Types: 2:220G (title and headings), 1:109R (text), 3:77R (printed side-notes). 117 large woodcut illustrations (printed from 112 blocks), of which 3 are full-page, cut by various artists, at least 75 AFTER ALBRECHT DÜRER, most woodcuts with partial woodcut borders, woodcut printer's device. (Occasional light browning and staining, small tear to last leaf affecting a few letters.) Late 19th-century russia, silked doublures and linings, edges stained blue (upper spine end repaired, front hinge starting). Provenance: Charles Samuel Nichols (bookplate); Luigi Arrigoni, Milan (bookseller's ticket); acquired from Goodspeed's Book Shop, 1970.
FIRST LATIN EDITION of the Ship of Fools. The Basel humanist Sebastian Brant describes the sea journey of 112 fools (representing the follies of human weakness and vice) to "Naragonia" the paradise of fools. The fine woodcut illustrations are those commissioned for the first edition (in German) of 1494, also printed by Bergmann at Basel, 75 of which are now attributed to Dürer, who resided in Basel for a few months in 1494. The fools in Dürer's woodcuts are recognized by the bells on their caps. 15 other illustrations are attributed to the Master of Haintz Narr. His fools wear coxcombs instead of bells. "The woodcut illustrations created for the Das Narrenschiff are of immense density and tenseness. Since there was no iconographical tradition for this newly conceived text, the subjects and scenes of the illustrations had to be created entirely new. The images presented are of such convincing force that their equal in design had never before been seen" (A Heavenly Craft, p. 63). The Ship of Fools is the first literary work to announce the discovery of the New World, which is not surprising, since it was Bergmann who published the first German edition of the the Columbus letter, announcing his discovery of the New World, in 1493. RARE: according to American Book Prices Current, only two copies of this edition were sold in the last 35 years. Alden and Landis 497/5; BSB-Ink. B-817; CIBN B-758; Goff B-1086; GW 5054; HC 3746; Harvard/Walsh 1258; Pr 7776; Schreiber 3567; See PMM 37.
Sale room notice
Front cover detached.