8vo. xxiv, 295, 9pp. With a half-title, a hand-coloured engraved folding frontispiece, and four final leaves of publisher's advertisements. Uncut in original publisher's two-tone paper boards, printed paper lettering-piece. Lightly rubbed. Hinges exposed, else internally clean and crisp.

The anonymous anecdotes and satirical verse of the notorious forger of Shakespearean documents William Henry Ireland (1775-1835). Composed in homage to German humanist Sebastian Brant's Ship of Fools (Basel, 1494), The modern ship of fools savagely attacks the types of people and objects the author disdains most, including Foolish Unprofitable Books.