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Sebastian Brant’s Ship of Fools in German and English Collections

On 10 May 2021, the 500th anniversary of the death of Sebastian Brant, the show-and-tell session brought together a multilingual array of his European bestseller, the Ship of Fools, live from the Bodleian Library, the British Library and the Staatsbibliothek Bamberg.

Copies presented:

Sebastian Brant: Narrenschiff. Basel: Johann Bergmann von Olpe, 12.II.1499.4° (GW 5047) Copy of the third edition of Sebastian Brant’s ‘Narrenschiff’.
06:06 Bamberg SB Inc.typ.Ic.I.1
12:08 London BL, IA.37957

Sebastian Brant: Das neue Narrenschiff. Augsburg: Johann Schönsperger, 28.V.1498 (GW 5052) Copy of an Augsburg reprint of the Strasburg interpolation of the Ship of Fools.
18:49 Oxford Bod., Auct. 7Q 5.20 Bod-Inc and ISTC

Sebastian Brant: Das Narrenschiff, Middle Low German. Lübeck [Mohnkopfdrucker (Hans van Ghetelen)], 1497. 4° (GW 5053) One of only two extant copies of the Middle Low German translation of the Ship of Fools.
25:30 London BL, IA.9927 https://mrfh.de/20700 (with instruction for the binder: Inn swarte bredt rodtt im Snedt gefaruett vnnd midt goldt darup gedruckett dusse bochstaue IVD)

Sebastian Brant: Das Narrenschiff, Latin by Jacobus Locher Philomusus. Basel: Johann Bergmann von Olpe. 1.III.1497. 4° (GW5054) Copy of the edition princeps of the highly influential Latin translation.
33:35 Oxford Bod., Douce 70 Bod-Inc

Sebastian Brant: Das Narrenschiff, Latin by Jacobus Locher Philomusus (GW 5061) With additions by Thomas Beccadelli. Basel: Johann Bergmann von Olpe, 1.VIII.1497.4°.
45:00 Bamberg SB Inc.typ.M.V.25#1

Online edition: narragonien-digital.de
List of editions in the MRFH (Marburger Repertorum der Übersetzungsliteratur des Frühhumanismus)

Presenters:

  • Alexandra Franklin (Bodleian Library)
  • Susan Reed (British Library)
  • Bettina Wagner (Staatsbibliothek Bamberg)
  • Alyssa Steiner (Bamberg / Oxford)
  • Henrike Lähnemann (Oxford)

Recording by Tom Revell

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