We added to our database Sebastian Brant’s Narrenschiff (The Ship of Fools). It was first published in 1494 in Basel. Many of its woodcut illustrations are attributed to Albrecht Dürer. Das Narrenschiff rose to fame instantly after the publication. Imitations, further editions, authorised and unauthorised, and translations into other languages quickly followed.
The edition that is now in our database is the third Basel edition published in 1499. Below we present a copy of a facsimile edition published in 1913. Based on different versions of the early publications, it was an attempt to create an ideal edition. This facsimile is now held at the Library of the Swiss National Museum in Zurich, Switzerland.
Position your mouse over the Image below and then scroll through to see the complete book.
Note some differences. The 1499 Image for Von äffischen Narren is somewhat different from what we see in the Ideal Edition.
Here are some other differences, including those with some other editions:
Vom nächtlichen hofieren: the 1499 Image is different from the Ideal, and possibly is a digitisation error (it is repeated in the next verse Von Bettlern).
Kein Narr sein wollen: the 1499 Image is somewhat different from the Ideal.
Böses thun und nicht erwarten: the 1499 Image is somewhat different from the Ideal.
Vom Geistlichwerden: The 1499 Image is the same as the Ideal; the Images in the Facsimile Der Erstausgabe Basel 1494 (herausgegeben von Dieter Wuttke, Verlag Valentin Koerner 1994 Baden-Baden) and in the same from 1986 Verlag Philipp Reclam jun. Leipzig differ.
Von Verachtung der Armut: The 1499 Image is the same as the Ideal; the Images in the Facsimile Der Erstausgabe Basel 1494 (herausgegeben von Dieter Wuttke, Verlag Valentin Koerner 1994 Baden-Baden) and in the 1986 Verlag Philipp Reclam jun. Leipzig differ.
Von Überhebung und Hochfahrt: The 1499 Image and some of the verse appear to be repeated twice (possibly a digitisation error).
Von Verführung am Feiertage: The 1499 Image is the same as the Ideal and the Image in the 1986 Verlag Philipp Reclam jun. Leipzig; in the Facsimile Der Erstausgabe Basel 1494 (herausgegeben von Dieter Wuttke, Verlag Valentin Koerner 1994) the Image differs.
Vom Ohrenblasen: The 1499 Image and some of the text appear to be repeated twice (possibly a digitisation error).
Das Gute behindern: The Image in the Ideal Edition differs from the others.
Verleumdung des Guten: The 1499 edition contains two additional verses that follow Verleumdung (Von Tischzucht with an Image and Von Fassnachtsnarren)
The brief comparative analysis above is to highlight that even the very early editions or different versions of the first edition appear to have differed.
We include below also the complete edition from 1854 (with extensive commentary on the history of different editions, Brant’s literary style, and also including some of his other works and samples of the translations of Narrenschiff into other languages) and Introductions from yet two other editions with further commentary and discussion. The latter two appear to correspond in their Images with the 1994 Baden-Baden, and we include the Images for Vom Geistlichwerden, Von Verachtung der Armut and for Von Verführung am Feiertage.