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Important second edition of the best English translation - together with the Latin translation - of the 'Ship Of Fooles'

BRANT, Sebastian.
Stultifera navis, qua omnium mortalium narratur stultitia, admodum utilis & necessaria ab omnibus ad suam salutem perlegenda, è Latino sermone in nostrum vulgarem versa, & iam diligenter impressa. / The ship of fooles, wherin is shewed the folly of all states, with divers other workes adioyned unto the same, very profitable and fruitfull for all men. Translated out of Latin into Englishe by Alexander Barclay priest.

Large woodcut with four ships filled with fools (15,6 x 10 cm) on title, 116 woodcuts (ca. 11  x 8 cm) in text, 8 of which are repeated twice and one woodcut once. The woodcuts are placed between a floral woodcut border to the left and to the right. Interesting woodcut initials, typographical ornaments in the margins and tail-pieces. Printed in Roman and Gothic.

Large woodcut with four ships filled with fools (15,6 x 10 cm) on title, 116 woodcuts (ca. 11  x 8 cm) in text, 8 of which are repeated twice and one woodcut once. The woodcuts are placed between a floral woodcut border to the left and to the right. Interesting woodcut initials, typographical ornaments in the margins and tail-pieces. Printed in Roman and Gothic.

Large woodcut with four ships filled with fools (15,6 x 10 cm) on title, 116 woodcuts (ca. 11  x 8 cm) in text, 8 of which are repeated twice and one woodcut once. The woodcuts are placed between a floral woodcut border to the left and to the right. Interesting woodcut initials, typographical ornaments in the margins and tail-pieces. Printed in Roman and Gothic.

Large woodcut with four ships filled with fools (15,6 x 10 cm) on title, 116 woodcuts (ca. 11  x 8 cm) in text, 8 of which are repeated twice and one woodcut once. The woodcuts are placed between a floral woodcut border to the left and to the right. Interesting woodcut initials, typographical ornaments in the margins and tail-pieces. Printed in Roman and Gothic.

Large woodcut with four ships filled with fools (15,6 x 10 cm) on title, 116 woodcuts (ca. 11  x 8 cm) in text, 8 of which are repeated twice and one woodcut once. The woodcuts are placed between a floral woodcut border to the left and to the right. Interesting woodcut initials, typographical ornaments in the margins and tail-pieces. Printed in Roman and Gothic.



London, John Cawood, 1570. Folio (25,8 x17,6 cm.). Brown 19th-century gilt tooled morocco, gilt fillets, floral borders and centre-piece on covers; spine gilt in compartments, one lettered in gold ('Barclay's Ship of Fooles'), dated ('1570') at foot, floral gilt inner dentelles, marbled endpapers, g.e. Kept in modern green cloth drop back box with morocco letter-piece on spine. Large woodcut with four ships filled with fools (15,6 x 10 cm) on title, 116 woodcuts (ca. 11  x 8 cm) in text, 8 of which are repeated twice and one woodcut once. The woodcuts are placed between a floral woodcut border to the left and to the right. Interesting woodcut initials, typographical ornaments in the margins and tail-pieces. Printed in Roman and Gothic. Collation: ¶ - ¶¶6, A-Z, Aa-Vv6, Xx4 ([12], 259, [3] ll.); A-G 6 ([42] ll.); A-D6 ([24] ll.).

Second edition of the English translation of Sebastian Brant's famous Narrenschiff  by Alexander Barclay (1475?-1552) who was a priest in the College of Ottery St. Mary, Devon, then a Benedictine monk at Ely , then a Franciscan at Canterbury and finally Rector of All Hallows, Lombard Street, London. The first edition of this translation was printed by R. Pynson in 1509, also in London. In the same year another English translation by Henry Watson appeared, which was printed in London by Wynkyn de Worde.
The woodcuts in our edition are from the same blocks that were used in the original 1509 edition of Barclay's translation. These blocks were cut after the Parisian copies made for the French translation by Pierre Rivière (Paris, 1497). Also the woodcut on the title is a copy of this Parisian edition. The Parisian blocks in their turn were imitations of the woodcuts used in the original German edition (Basel, 1494), which have been ascribed to Dürer; now they are considered to be the work of the Master of the Bergman Printing House.
The outstanding and by far the best English translation by Barclay, who was a famous poet, is based on other translations, especially the Latin translation by James Locher (1497) and the French translation by Pierre Rivière printed in the same year. Barclay has added many explanatory notes to his translation.
The Narrenschiff by the German humanist and poet Sebastian Brant from Strasbourg (1458-1521) is one of the most popular books of its time. Each of the 111 fools contained in the ship embody a vice or a human imperfection. In a severe and rigid sermon these vices are criticized with the intention to strengthen the authority of the Church and the Emperor.
The title (verso blank) is followed by Alexander Barclay's dedicatory letter to Thomas Cornish (f. [2]r), the epigram by Jacob Locher, the translation in Latin (f. [2]v), the letter by Jacob Locher to Sebastian Brant, dated 1.2.1497 (f. [2]v-[3]v), Latin poems by Jacob Locher and Sebastian Brant (f. [3]v-[5]r), the Latin Prologue  by Jacob Locher with an English translation (f. [5]r-[7]v), the Hecatasticon in proludium auctoris and the translation (f. [7]v-[10]v), the Argumentum and its translation (f. [10]v-[11]v) and Latin and English poems (f. [11]v-[12]v).
The text of the Ship of fooles, printed alternately in Roman (Latin) and Gothic type (English translation) is on f. 1-259r (and is still dated 1508); the text is followed by the Excusatio of Jacob Locher (f. 259v), a poem by Alexander Barclay (f. [260]r), and the Indexes (f. [260]v-[262]r).
Added in this edition are two extra related and interesting texts by:
- Dominike MANCIN, The Mirrour of good Maners. Conteining the foure Cardinal Vertues, compiled in Latin by --, and translated into English by Alexander Barclay (f. (1)-(42) (STC 17243). This is the second edition of this translation of Mancin's De quattour virtutibus; the first edition is from 1518 (?) (STC 17242), and:
- Aeneas Silvius PICCOLOMINI (= Pope Pius II), Certayne egloges of Alexander Barclay Priest, whereof the first three conteyne the miseryes of courtiers and courtes of all princes in generall, gathered out of a booke named in Latin, Miseriae Curalium. (f. [1]-[24]). The colophon is on f. [24]r: 'Imprinted at London, in Paules Church-yarde by John Cawood ...' (f. [1]-[24]). (reprint of STC 1384/5).

With the bookplates of Joseph Tasker, Middleton Hall, Essex (early 19th century), and of C.W. Dyson Perrins; faded early ownership's entry on the colophon; early ownership's entry on f. 97v: 'Ann Howerd'; title a little bit soiled; some leaves shaved affecting a few headlines towards the end; some occasional browning and some little streaks at a few lower margins. A very good copy of this important second edition of the best English translation of this classic.
ESTC S107135; Index Aurel. 123.748; Pforzheimer 41; Séb. Brant 500e anniversaire (Exhib. cat. Basle 1994), 109; STC 3546; Wilhelmi, Séb. Brant - Bibliogr. 218; NUC 750345; reprint ed. by Thomas Hill Jamieson (Edindurgh 1874), Introd.

Related Subjects: German  Imaginary Voyages & Utopias  Literature  Popular Books 

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