farfel_n09_019_579

Inferior to Barclay in Henry Watson's competitive
English prose version, The Shyppe of Fooles
(Wynkyn de Worde, London 1509, of which only
a single copy, in Paris is now extant. A 2nd ed.
now almost as rare as the 1st appeared in 1517.
Watson's work seems to be a literal translation
of the 2nd, not the 1st, ed. of Drouyn's French
prose version. Henry Watson was an apprentice
to Wynkyn de Worde + The Ship of Fools was
his 1st translation. He undertook the work
at the request of Margaret, countess of Richmond,
the king's grandmother. This must have been
after April 21, 1509 + the finished book was
published on July 6.

There are, including the preliminary one, 118 woodcuts
in number. The word folium is on the left
hand page + the number in Roman capitals on the
right throughout the book; the last is cclxxiiii.
Including the dedication + table (4 folios) there
are 283 folios. The numbering is a model of
irregularity.

Each illust. has a border piece on either side. The
1st two are not unlike those used by Caxton in The
Fifteen Oes. Throughout the remainder of the book
only 4 blocks were used + two of these were alike, the
design representing a series of 1/2 fleur-de-lis alternating
c halves of the sign used by heralds for the tincture
of ermine. The other two were a naked figure in
the midst of flowers + foliage c binds in their midst.