Liberalis - Metamorphôseôn Synagôgè - 1774

THE METAMORPHOSES OF OVID IN THE PAGAN AND CRUELED FORM - BETWEEN HELLENISM AND PHILOLOGY
This elegant eighteenth-century edition of Antoninus Liberalis’ Metamorphoses marks one of the high points of the humanistic transmission of Greek myths. A rare and fascinating text, it is a late-antique compendium of transformation tales that dialogue with Ovid but preserve an autonomous, archaic voice that is sometimes more brutal.
The 1774 Leiden edition, with the erudite notes by Muncker and Verheyk, reflects the great Dutch philological season and the aim of restoring to the educated public a purified Greek text that is critically grounded. The specimen, enriched by a heraldic binding with Athena and the Leiden coat of arms, fuses myth, scholarship, and civic pride into a bibliographic object of notable charm.
MARKET VALUE
The eighteenth-century editions of Antoninus Liberalis printed in Leiden in 1774 generally fall within a range of 800 to 1,000 euros per copy in good condition. Copies with contemporary decorated bindings or with significant academic provenance can command higher valuations. The presence of the handwritten academic prize and the heraldic binding with Leiden’s arms constitute an element of collectible value.

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION AND CONDITION
Contemporary full calf binding, gilded file-to-frame borders on boards; at center, the city coat of arms of Leiden with Athena armed, helmet and spear, shield with civic arms and an owl at the side. Spine with raised bands and gilded ornaments. Sprinkled edges. Text in Greek with Latin translation and a notes apparatus. Frontispiece with a typographic vignette; there is a folded sheet of an academic prize preceding the frontispiece. In old books with a centuries-long history, a few imperfections may be present, not always noted in the description. Pp. 32nn; 304; 20nn; (2).

FULL TITLE AND AUTHOR
Metamorphôseôn synagôgè. Transformationum congeries.
Lugduni Batavorum, apud Sam. et Joan. Luchtmans, 1774.
Antoninus Liberalis.

CONTEXT AND SIGNIFICANCE
Antoninus Liberalis, an author probably active between the 2nd and 3rd centuries CE, is known exclusively for this collection of 41 mythic metamorphosis tales. Unlike Ovid’s Metamorphoses, Liberalis’s work is based on Hellenistic sources now lost (such as Nicander) and preserves variants and sometimes darker versions of the myths. The transformations recounted – into animals, plants, stone – lack the aesthetic fluidity of Ovid, possessing a dryness that is almost antiquarian, which enhances its documentary value.
The 1774 edition sits within the great Leiden philological tradition, a European center of classical studies. The notes by Theodorus Muncker and Henricus Verheyk expand the critical apparatus, comparing various manuscript variants and parallel sources. It is therefore not merely a reprint but an erudite edition that testifies to Dutch Enlightenment philology.

BIOGRAPHY OF THE AUTHOR
Antoninus Liberalis is a nearly enigmatic figure. We possess no certain biographical data; his name suggests an origin with Eastern Greek roots. His work, probably a school or antiquarian compendium, represents the sole preserved testimony of many Hellenistic mythographic traditions. The structure is simple: short, numbered chapters, each devoted to a metamorphosis myth, with source indication. The work survives thanks to a single medieval manuscript (Palatinus Graecus), the basis of all modern editions.

PRINTING HISTORY AND CIRCULATION
The first printed edition appeared in the 16th century with a Latin translation by Xylander. The Leiden edition of 1774 constitutes one of the most complete outcomes of the modern editorial tradition of the text. Printed by the Luchtmans, important Dutch scholarly publishers, it was intended for a university audience. The presence of an academic prize named after Jan Guilhelmus Sluiter (1820) suggests the copy’s use in a university setting, probably as a recognition for merits in classical studies.

BIBLIOGRAPHY AND REFERENCES
Brunet, Manuel du libraire, I, col. 327 (Antoninus Liberalis).
Graesse, Trésor de livres rares, I, p. 148.
Fabricius, Bibliotheca Graeca, IV, pp. 131–133.
Schweiger, Handbuch der classischen Bibliographie, I, p. 24.
WorldCat, record ed. Lugduni Batavorum 1774 (Luchtmans).
ICCU/OPAC SBN, esemplari censiti per l’edizione 1774 (da verificare per collazione precisa).