Ovidio - Les Métamorphoses d'Ovide - 1738

The Metamorphoses of Ovid.

Translated into French, with Remarks and Historical Explanations by M. l’Abbé Banier, of the Royal Academy of Inscriptions & Belles Lettres. New Edition. In Paris, [1738].

2 volumes in 4to, large (26.6 × 20.4 cm).
Volume I: pp. LXI, (27), 403.
Volume II: pp. 495, (8).

Contemporary binding in full brown leather, spine with raised bands, titles and rich gold tooling, marbled boards. Frontispiece on the boards. Engraved frontispiece, a vast number of wood-engraved illustrations in the text (one for each tale) and fine decorative vignettes.

Genuine and complete specimen. It presents browning and diffuse damp stains typical of the period, some margins slightly darkened. Page LVIII of the first volume restored at the white margin (old restoration well executed, not affecting the text). Binding shows wear and a few small losses at the head, but overall solid and decorative.

Famous French translation of Ovid’s Metamorphoses edited by Abbé Antoine Banier (1673-1741), one of the most important mythographers of the eighteenth century.

The work is enriched with extensive historical, mythological, and critical notes that contextualize each fable, making it one of the most appreciated and commented editions of the eighteenth century. The engravings, often signed by Matthieu, vividly and accurately depict the principal mythological episodes (creation of the world, the Golden Age, Deucalion, Minotaur, Theseus, Hermaphrodite, Bacchus, Perseus and Andromeda, Meleager, etc.).

This is one of the finest French illustrated editions of the Metamorphoses from the eighteenth century. The 1738 edition (new, revised edition) is particularly sought after for the quality of the engravings and for Banier’s rich critical apparatus, which had a great influence on European neoclassical culture. Complete copies in contemporary bindings of this issue are rarely available on the antiquarian market, especially in pairs.

A fundamental work for the study of classical mythology, of the Ovidian reception in the eighteenth century, and for the history of French book illustration.

This is a piece of prestige with excellent collectible appeal.