BRANT, Sebastian; BARCLAY, Alexander (trans.).

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Stultifera Navis... = The Ship of Fooles, Second edition in English of Brant's satire mocking the vices of humanity, which also includes Locher's Latin version and reproductions of Brant's 1494 original woodcuts, many designed by Dürer. This edition brought the allegory of the "ship of fools" back into vogue in England.The series of woodblocks was first used in Richard Pynson's exceedingly rare first English edition of 1509, which, "with the exception of two or three, are very well preserved" (Pforzheimer). All but seven blocks were copied from Pierre Rivière's 1497 French edition, which in turn were derived from the cuts by Albrecht Dürer and others from the 1494 Basel first edition.Das Narrenschiff (The Ship of Fooles) became highly influential in shaping the moral and cultural discourse surrounding books, learning, and ownership. Brant's satire repeatedly returns to the figure of the foolish book owner: the man who accumulates volumes for prestige, display, or vanity while remaining intellectually empty. The most famous section for bibliophilic history is the first chapter, "Of unprofitable books", which is illustrated with the celebrated woodcut of a scholar-fool surrounded by books. That image became one of the enduring icons of European bibliomania. Brant's target is not learning itself. He was a humanist and lawyer deeply committed to scholarship, but he makes the point throughout the work that books are morally and intellectually valuable only when actively digested a

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