Ovide & T. Corneille - Les Métamorphoses d'Ovide - 1698

Rare, superbly illustrated three-volume set of this mythological fresco that traces the history of the world through a succession of tales in which gods, heroes and mortals are subjected to marvelous metamorphoses that express divine power, human passions, and cosmic order -

The work opens with the creation of the world and the organization of chaos into a harmonious universe by a divine force that separates the elements and establishes the balance between heaven, earth, and sea -

It then describes the early ages of humanity, from the Golden Age marked by innocence and abundance to the Iron Age dominated by violence and corruption, before introducing the first famous metamorphoses such as Lycaon transformed into a wolf for defying Jupiter -

The narratives then follow in a continuous chain where each transformation becomes the starting point for a new story, presenting, for example, Daphne changed into a laurel to escape Apollo’s love, Io metamorphosed into a heifer by Jupiter to shield her from Juno’s jealousy, or Narcissus transformed into a flower after falling in love with his own reflection -

The poem multiplies episodes devoted to the gods of Olympus and their interventions in the fate of mortals, describing Apollo’s passions, Juno’s anger, Mercury’s wiles, and the punishments inflicted on those who defy divine authority, such as Actaeon turned into a stag for stumbling upon Diana at her bath or Arachne transformed into a spider for rivaling Minerva in the art of weaving -

Ovid & T. Corneille - Ovid’s Metamorphoses - 1698 - Volume I, II and III - Jean François Broncart -
[12]-352, [4]-359-[1 blank] and [4]-336 pages -

Good condition of bindings, books in full brown leather of the period, wear from use with minor loss of material on covers and spines, bumped heads, corners worn, speckled edges, spine with raised bands, titles and tomes gilded on morocco pieces -

Good interior condition, pages stained and yellowed, tail-pieces, books enriched with charming black-and-white illustrations in the text, marbled endpapers, ex-libris from the library of Mr. Carin -

Delivery service ensured within a few days –