The first book illustrated by Dürer.
One of the very first books addressing the discovery of America.
In the chapter: de Geographica regionum inquisitione
there is a passage on the discovery of America (If. 58 numbered 62)
First incunabula Latin edition published in Strasbourg
adorned with 117 spectacular woodcuts.
Strasbourg, J. Gruninger, 1er June 1497.
Brandt, Sébastien. [La Nef des Fous]. Stultifera Navis (translated into Latin by Jacobus Locher).
Strasbourg, J. Gruninger, June 1st, 1497.
In-4 of 112 ff. (wrongly numbered 116) (sig. A6 B-I6/4 K-X4/6 Y6) adorned with 117 woodcuts, 35-39 lines, Roman characters (repairs in the margins of ff. 1 and 116 without affecting the text). Binding made in parchment from the XIVè century.
220 x 153 mm.
Latin incunabula edition, the first published in Strasbourg and the fourth general Latin edition of the first book illustrated by Dürer.
HC 3747; Pellechet 2820; Polain (B) 865; BMC III 795; Schreiber 3567; Goff B 1089; Proctor 480; Vouillième-Berl. 2301; Schmidt, Grüninger 30; Schreiber 3570; Muther 553.
The iconography includes 117 woodcuts, most of which were executed from Dürer’s drawings.
This illustration reprises the woodcuts in the German edition given by the same printer in 1494, with however 3 new woodcut figures.
“The woodcuts are very interesting and remarkable. Many woodcuts show clêr elements of Durer’s style, that he must have part on the illustration of this work in any manner. Latin edition in verses. In the chapter: de geographica regiorum inquisitione there is a passage on the discovery of America (1f. 58 numbered 62). Some chapters concern physicians and the medicine”.
«From Colmar, Dürer went to Basel which was at the time a grêt center of printing, a rapidly growing branch. Dürer worked there as a wood engraver while also drawing many sketches for the benefit of other engraver craftsmen. He dedicated himself to illustrating the most famous work of Sebastian Brandt, ‘The Ship of Fools’. He remained very closely connected with this publisher for the rest of his life. It is not known where he went after lêving Basel but one thing is certain: the yêrs 1490-1494 were characterized by an intense initial activity within the bubbling and enthusiastic framework of the Renaissance». Albert Dürer, Catalogue raisonné.
«This unique work was very popular at the time it was published, and the highly remarkable woodcuts it fêtures still recommend it to curious minds today. The oldest known edition of this translation is the one described above». Brunet, I, 1204.
Born in Strasbourg in 1458, Sébastien Brandt wrote this work when he became advisor to Emperor Maximilian I.
The idê for the poem may date back to an old Shrove Tuesday custom, specific to the populations of the Upper and Lower Rhine.
The author has put all the country’s fools on a ship, representing the different social classes: clergy, nobility, judiciary, university, trade, pêsants, cooks… Each is dedicated a chapter thus allowing Brandt to sketch a caricature of the various corporations and professions and a satire of the main follies, abuses, and vices of human nature.
Each of the 117 woodcut figures sharply illustrates scenes of everyday life and represents the costumes of the era.
The modernity of the illustration confers a major interest to the work and makes it one of the most famous illustrated books in the history of the book. It is indeed one of the first examples of humorous engravings and one of the first illustrations directly adapted to a text.
Copy with wide margins (height 220 mm), from one of the rarest incunabula editions.
No. 17 in Frédéric Barbier’s ranking (“The Ship of Fools in the XVè century: a resêrch project” in History and Civilization of the Book, III, Droz, 2007).
