Stultifera navis.

4to: clix [= 164] ff., ca. 30 ll.

Dark blue morocco signed Blanchetière-Bretault, triple gilt ruled covers, gilt ruled spine with raised bands, inlaid gray morocco doublures orn. with burgundy, olive green and camel inlays in the manner of the 16th c. and punctuated with gilt floral ornaments, flyleaves doubled with blue fabric, marbled endpapers, gilt marbled edges. In a case. Excellent copy.

Enlarged Latin translation of the well-known Brant's "Das Narrenschiff" made by Jacobus Locher (1471-1528), called "Philomusus" (friend of the muses). Contains also "Epigramma" and "Carmina" by Thomas Beccadelli and Jacobus Locher. The first publication of this book (1494) is the culmination of a carefully considered editorial process in which it is sometimes difficult to determine the role played by each of the actors: the author, Brant, the bookseller, Johann Bergman, and the illustrators, including the young Albrecht Dürer. Ill. with 117 woodcuts and 2 woodcut borders, re-used from the editio princeps in German. The illustration was designed on the same level as the text. Frédéric Barbier speaks about the "bimediality" of this book where the image is not simply present to reinforce the subject, but to interact and dialogue directly with it. The status of this book changed during the second half of the 18th century with its entry into the field of modern bibliophily. Extremely rich collectors, such as the Duke of La Vallière, competed for the best examples. From being a satyrical book, the "Ship of the Fools" acquired the status of an art object.
Ref. ISTC ib01091000. - GW 5062. - CIBN B-760. - Polain 4092. - BSB-Ink B-821. - Bod-inc B-513. - Barbier, F. - Histoire d’un livre, la "Nef des fous" de Sébastien Brant. Paris, Éditions des cendres, 2018.
Prov. [Georges Petit].