Ovid - Ovidii Metamorphoseos - 1516

OVID – MAGNIFICENT POST-INCUNABLE PRINT – LYON 1516

17 woodcuts

Rare Lyon edition of Ovid's Metamorphoses with the medieval-humanist commentary of Lactantius Placidi. Printed in 1516 by Jacques Huguetan (Jacques Myt), in quarto, two-color in red and black with a broad decorative border and a large title woodcut, bound in an old flexible parchment binding.

The text presents Ovid's fifteen books of the Metamorphoses, the great collection of ancient myths of gods and humans whose common thread is transformation: stories of gods, heroes, nymphs, and mortals transformed into animals, plants, stars, or stones. Among them are the well-known myths of Daphne and Apollo, Pyramus and Thisbe, Narcissus, Orpheus and Eurydice, Io, Phaethon, Perseus and Andromeda, as well as countless other tales that have shaped European poetry and art up to modern times. The accompanying commentary moralizes these stories in the spirit of the age and interprets the pagan myths allegorically, for example as illustrations of virtue and vice or as symbols of Christian truths – a typical testimony of the humanist reading of ancient texts around 1500.

The work is complete and contains a total of 17 woodcuts:

- 1 large title vignette with a depiction of Ovid presenting his work to the emperor

- 1 famous diagram of the world as a sphere with five climes (torrid, two polar, two temperate zones)

- 15 large woodcuts in the text, traditionally attributed to Guillaume II. Leroy, which were reused in several Lyonese Ovid editions from the 1510s/20s.

Condition: Internally overall well preserved for its age, clear typography, beautiful and high-contrast woodcuts; usual signs of use, occasional stains, edge defects and small notes possible. The old parchment binding is sturdy but rubbed, with losses and cracks at corners, edges and capitals, discolorations and minor damage – please consult the photos for a precise state assessment. Unrestored, very authentic library copy.

A significant and sought-after Lyon edition of the Ovid Metamorphoses, which not only stands out for its early printing date and its high-quality woodcuts but also for its characteristic humanist commentary, making it an important document of the Renaissance reception of ancient mythology. Rare on the market – with no reserve.