The Ship of Fools, Volume 1

Name: The Ship of Fools, Volume 1
Author: Sebastian Brant

by Sebastian Brant

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Subjects

German poetry -- Translations into English English poetry -- Translations from German

In: Poetry·Humour·Classics of Literature

Public-domain ebook sourced from Project Gutenberg #20179.

About this book

The volume presents the first part of Sebastian Brant’s celebrated satire, The Ship of Fools, in a scholarly edition that begins with a detailed notice of the work’s provenance. The opening pages explain that the woodcut illustrations have been reproduced from the original Basel printing of 1497, and that the frontispiece portrait of Brant is taken from Zarncke’s edition of the Narrenschiff. The editor, T. H. Jamieson, acknowledges the assistance of numerous libraries and collectors in assembling the rare source material, and then offers a concise introduction that situates the poem within its fifteenth‑century context. It outlines the book’s extraordinary popularity, multiple translations, sermons, and imitations across Europe, and sketches Brant’s method of assembling biblical and classical quotations to satirize the vices of his day. The reader is thus introduced to a work that blends moral critique with lively allegory, framed by meticulous bibliographic commentary.

The text reflects the late medieval humanist voice of a canon‑law professor who writes in Swabian dialect, employing vigorous iambic quadrameters and a brisk, straightforward style. Its humor is modest rather than flamboyant, relying on a liberal, earnest tone that addresses both learned and popular audiences. Scholars of early modern German literature, historians of the Reformation, and readers interested in the evolution of satire will find Brant’s blend of moral instruction and social observation compelling. Those who appreciate the interplay of classical allusion, biblical citation, and vivid portraiture of contemporary follies will enjoy the work’s rich texture and its insight into the cultural currents that shaped early printed literature.

Who appears in The Ship of Fools, Volume 1

Sebastian BrantMiddle‑aged German scholar, bald head, short beard, wearing black academic robes and a fur‑trimmed cloak, holding a parchment
T. H. JamiesonEarly‑20th‑century gentleman, round spectacles, tweed jacket with elbow patches, white shirt, pocket watch chain visible
J. T. ReidMid‑20th‑century academic, neat sideburns, dark suit with waistcoat, tie, holding a wooden ruler and a manuscript

The opening · free to read

The woodcuts, no less valuable for their artistic merit than they are interesting as pictures of contemporary manners, have been facsimiled for the present edition from the originals as they appear in the Basle edition of the Latin, "denuo seduloque reuisa," issued under Brandt's own superintendence in 1497. This work has been done by Mr J. T. Reid, to whom it is due to say that he has executed it with the most painstaking and scrupulous fidelity.

The portrait of Brandt, which forms the frontispiece to this volume, is taken from Zarncke's edition of the Narrenschiff; that of Barclay presenting one of his books to his patron, prefixed to the Notice of his life, appears with a little more detail in the Mirror of Good Manners and the Pynson editions of the Sallust; it is, however, of no authority, being used for a similar purpose in various other publications.

For the copy of the extremely rare original edition from which the text of the present has been printed, I am indebted to the private collection and the well known liberality of Mr David Laing of the Signet Library, to whom I beg here to return my best thanks, for this as well as many other valuable favours in connection with the present work.

In prosecuting enquiries regarding the life of an author of whom so little is known as of Barclay, one must be indebted for aid, more or less, to the kindness of friends. In this way I have to acknowledge my obligations to Mr Æneas Mackay, Advocate, and Mr Ralph Thomas, ("Olphar Hamst"), for searches made in the British Museum and elsewhere.

For collations of Barclay's Works, other than the Ship of Fools, all of which are of the utmost degree of rarity, and consequent inaccessibility, I am indebted to the kindness of Henry Huth, Esq., 30 Princes' Gate, Kensington; the Rev. W. D. Macray, of the Bodleian Library, Oxford; W. B. Rye, Esq., of the British Museum; Henry Bradshaw, Esq., of the University Library, Cambridge; and Professor Skeat, Cambridge.

For my brief notice of Brandt and his Work, it is also proper to acknowledge my obligations to Zarncke's critical edition of the Narrenschiff (Leipzig, 1854) which is a perfect encyclopædia of everything Brandtian.