Printed Books 1450-present  

In 1494, humanist Sebastian Brant published Das Narrenschiff, or The Ship of Fools, a moralistic poem written in the German language. In it, Brant described 110 assorted follies and vices, each undertaken by a different fool. Each sin or vice was interpreted by a stunning woodcut, many believed to be the work of Albrecht Dürer. In 1497, Johann Bergmann von Olpe printed a later edition in Latin, known as Stultifera Navis, which is owned by the UH Libraries.

The History of Four-Footed Beasts and Serpents (1658) by Edward Topsell depicts mammals and reptiles, both real and fantastical, in detailed woodcuts. Topsell originally published his illustrated Historie of Foure-footed Beastes, Describing the True and Lively Figure of Every Beast, in 1607. In 1608 he followed it with The Historie of Serpents; Or the Second Booke of Living Creatures. In 1658, twenty years after his death, Topsell’s zoological books were reissued together.