Sebastian BRANDT. La nef des folz du monde. In-folio, ivy-green morocco, triple fillet, 5-ribbed spine decorated in the same style, interior lace ( Koehler). Bechtel, 101/B-383 // BMC, VIII-178 // Brunet, I-1206 // Fairfax Murray, 66 // Hain, I-3754. (6f.)-CXIX-(3f.) / a6, b8, c-x6 / 42 lines on 2 columns, gothic car / 195 x 263 mm / title ruled in red ink. Extremely rare and valuable first French incunabula edition of this prodigiously successful work. The work, first written in German and published in 1494, was translated into Latin by Jacques Locher. Jacques Locher, later revised by Brandt and translated into French by Pierre Rivière. The author, jurisconsult and poet, was born in Strasbourg in 1458. He studied in Basel, where he successively obtained a bachelor's degree, a licentiate, a doctorate in law, a professorship and, in 1492, became dean of the faculty. He then returned to his hometown to teach jurisprudence, also devoting himself to the study of letters, and became one of the glories and luminaries of his time. one of the glories and lights of the city, where he died in 1521. His masterpiece, La Nef des fous, is a satirical poem in which he investigates the cause and sources of madness. By madmen, the author means above all sinners, and for him, bringing them back to wisdom means bringing them back to God. So he reviews all the vices and invites all the vicious to enter his vessel. There are avaricious, lustful, litigious, dancers, rabid bibliophiles... all sailing at random from the land of Cocagne, drinking and singing on unknown seas. The adventure on the nef is all the crazier for having been built by madmen, with the bow taking the place of the stern, the rudder inverted, the captain in the bilge and the cook on the mainmast. The work is lavishly illustrated with woodcuts copied from the Basel edition of 1494, including a large woodcut on the title, repeated on folio 115, and 115 smaller engravings showing all kinds of lunatics, men and women representing all classes of society, all dressed in courtly lunatic costumes with long donkey-eared hoods and bells. The last sheet, blank recto, bears the printer's mark on the verso, which is apparently often missing. Black stains on second board, minor wear to corners, major repairs to lateral margins of 4 leaves (title, n6, last 2 leaves), angular repair to leaf k6, leaf v2 trimmed in lateral margin with loss of a letter. Provenance: Jacques Richard (stamp on leaves a2 and b1: Ex Bibliotheca J. Richard D.M.), Charles Butler (label From the collection of Charles Butler, I, April 5-12, 1911, no. 212) and Lucien Gougy (I, March 5-8, 1934, no. 23).