Sebastian Brant - Das Narrenschiff

The Ship of Fools by Sebastian Brant (1457–1521) is a classic of late medieval Middle High German literature. The pre-Reformation satirical allegory tells the story of 100 fools ("Narren") who set sail on a ship to the fictitious land of Narragonia. The exaggerated and caricaturistic depiction of their human vices and misbehaviors holds up a mirror to the readership and critically reflects the zeitgeist. First printed in 1494, the work quickly became a bestseller and within a few years was translated into various languages and published in further editions and even “pirated copies”. The fantastic woodcuts also contributed to this great success. The 114 large illustrations of the incunabulum were mainly created by the so-called Master of the Bergmann Offizin in the style of Albrecht Dürer and Michael Schongauer for the first edition. It was published by Johann Bergmann von Olpe in Basel and is also characterized by the unusual mixture of different fonts (Antiqua and printed Bastarda). Another special feature of the first edition is the revision and correction during the printing process, which can be traced in the copy in the Saxon State Library. It is probably one of the last printed copies of the edition and thus enjoys a special position among the 14 surviving specimens of the first edition.