Sebastian Brant [Alexander Barclay, translator] | Stultifera navis, 1570, early modern female book ownership

Sebastian Brant, [Alexander Barclay, translator] 

Stultifera navis... The ship of fooles, wherin is shewed the folly of all states, with divers other workes adioyned unto the same, very profitable and fruitfull for all men. London: John Cawood, 1570

Folio (269 x 184 mm), text in Latin and English, woodcut of ships on title-page, numerous woodcut initials and illustrations, modern black gilt-ruled calf, spine gilt in compartments,

lacking first leaf of dedication, Kk6-Mm2, A2-E6, F2-F5, and D2-6, other leaves torn or repaired (sometimes with loss), some leaves browned

Brant's satire was first published in German in 1494, and Jacob Locher's Latin translation in 1497. Locher's Latin text is here accompanied by a translation into English by Alexander Barclay (c. 1484-1552) that was first published in 1509 (STC 3545). Barclay's translation of Domenico Mancini's Mirror of Good Manners, together with further eclogues, partly based on Pius II's Miseriae Curialium, appear at the end of this volume; they were first published in the 1520s and are considered to be the first pastoral poems to be written in English.

The numerous woodcut illustrations are closely based on those by Dürer and others that appeared in the first and subsequent editions printed by Johann Bergmann de Olpe in Basel from 1494, and in the French translation of Rivière published in Paris in 1497. They were originally used in Pynson's 1509 edition (Hodnett 1824-1881, 1883-1899, 1901-1931).

The present copy is a fascinating example of early modern female book ownership: the name "Sarah Flamvile" is written in ink on the title-page in a seventeenth-century hand. For another example of early modern female book ownership, see lot 4 (Berners).

PROVENANCE:

John Cyles: ownership inscription to title-page in a sixteenth-century hand; Sarah Flamvile: ownership inscription to title-page in a seventeenth-century hand; bought from Collins on 17th April 1754 by J. Hayter; sold Sotheby's, 15 July 1999, lot 82

LITERATURE:

Pforzheimer 41; STC 3546