P. Ovidii Nasonis - Metamorphoseos - 1545

P. Ovidii Nasonis Metamorphoseos libri XV, cum commentariis Raphaelis Regii

Venice, Hieronymus Scotus (Girolamo Scoto), 1545.

In folio (mm 295 × 210). Pp. (2), 350, (4). Lacks the title page.
Decorated drop caps, numerous figures n.t. and 15 full-page or half-page woodcut vignettes illustrating episodes from the Metamorphoses, plus some cosmological diagrams (celestial spheres, climatic zones of the Earth, winds).

Seventeenth/eighteenth-century binding covered in green marbled paper, red morocco spine with gilt lines and ornaments, red morocco label with title in gold «P. OVIDII METAMORPH.» and date 1545.

Venetian edition of Ovid’s Metamorphoses accompanied by the famous humanist commentary of Raphael Regius (Raphael Regius), one of the most important commentators on the classical text between the quattrocento and the sixteenth century. The volume presents the Latin text set in full page with Regius’s notes on the margins and at the end, enriched by an iconographic apparatus typical of Scotian production: narrative vignettes and scientific representations (geocentric system, winds, terrestrial zones) that complement the mythological-philosophical commentary.

This is a sixteenth-century edition of notable interest for the history of Ovid’s reception in Italian Renaissance. Regius’s commentary, printed many times from the late 15th century onward, is here offered in a carefully designed and illustrated typographic form, characteristic of the Venetian workshops of mid-sixteenth century.

The presence of the 15 woodcut vignettes and the cosmological diagrams makes this copy particularly attractive to collectors of book illustration and classical editions.

Copy missing only the title page, otherwise complete and in good condition, with a solid and dignified seventeenth/eighteenth-century binding.

Uncommon edition on the antiquarian market in these conditions.