Geiler von Kaisersburg, Navicula, Strassburg, 1511, contemporary half calf over wooden boards

GEILER VON KAISERSBURG, JOHANNES

Navicula sive speculum fatuorum. (Strassburg: [Johann Prüss], 1511)

4to (209 x 150mm.), woodcut illustrations, a remboitage of contemporary blind-stamped half calf over wooden boards from the Christuskopf bindery of Hildesheim (EBDB w000207), single clasp, index tabs, occasional light browning, first 2 leaves defective at foot, title-page with old repair, last few leaves repaired at foredge, new endleaves, binding slightly rubbed, upper joint cracking

A collection of sermons given in Strassburg in 1501-1502, written as a commentary on Sebastian Brant's Ship of Fools, and printed using the same woodblocks. It is generally assumed that the designs for the woodblocks were drawn up by Albrecht Dürer, who met and worked with Brant during his time in Basel in the early 1490s.

LITERATURE:

VD16 G778

PROVENANCE:

Antiquariat W. Brandes, Braunschweig, auction, 12-13 October 1989, lot 1612