Ovidio - Epistole Eroiche - 1762

OVIDIO NELL’ETÀ DEI LUMI: LE EROINE DELL’AMORE ILLUSTRATE DA GIUSEPPE ZOCCHI
ABSTRACT
Elegant and uncommon Paris edition of 1762 of the famous Heroides of Ovid, in the historic Italian translation by Remigio Nannini, called the Fiorentino. A edition particularly sought after for being the first illustrated with the compositions of Giuseppe Zocchi, later reused in the subsequent French editions. The poetical letters of Penelope, Dido, Sappho and the other classical heroines transform romantic abandonment into one of the most intense female galleries of ancient literature. The apparatus includes the half-title with the portrait of Remigio Fiorentino, 22 beautiful headpieces intaglio and 8 tailpieces, in a refined eighteenth-century editorial design. A complete copy, in contemporary full leather binding, with an interesting provenance from the renowned Parisian antiquarian bookseller Pierre Mahé.

WHY TO BUY
FIRST EDITION WITH ZOCCHI ILLUSTRATIONS – First edition of the Heroic Epistles to adopt the compositions of Giuseppe Zocchi, figurative apparatus destined to be used in the subsequent French editions.
22 HEADPIECES AND 8 TAILPIECES – Rich ornamental and figurative cycle accompanying the individual epistles, with finely engraved mythological scenes closely tied to the protagonists of the text.
OVIDIO AND THE GREAT HEROINES OF ANTIQUITY – Penelope, Briseis, Phaedra, Dido, Ariadne, Medea, Sappho and other female figures write to distant or unfaithful lovers: one of the most modern and psychologically fascinating texts of Latin poetry.
PROVENANCE PIERRE MAHÉ – Old label of the well-known Parisian antiquarian bookseller Pierre Mahé on the front guard, an element that adds interest to the collecting history of the exemplar.

MARKET VALUE
Edition appreciated for the combination of Ovid, Renaissance Italian translation, Parisian print and Giuseppe Zocchi’s illustrative apparatus. The completeness of the illustrations, the eighteenth-century binding and the antiquarian provenance are additional positive elements. For a complete exemplar like the one described, with half-title, 22 headpieces and 8 tailpieces, in contemporary binding but with the noted wear, a reasonable antiquarian valuation can be roughly placed in the €300-400 range. An exemplar particularly fresh and in a more prestigious binding can command higher prices.

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION AND CONDITION
Contemporary full leather binding with a marbled pattern, spine with a leather inlay bearing the title “EPITRE D’OVID,” gilt lines and decorations. Red edges. Front flyleaves in marbled paper; on the front flyleaf is affixed an old label of the renowned Parisian antiquarian bookseller Pierre Mahé. Half-title engraved with the portrait of “F. Remigio Nannino dell’Ordine de’ Predicatori” and a figurative title page engraved. Decorative apparatus composed of 22 engraved headpieces, placed at the opening of the epistles and depicting episodes related to the mythological characters, and 8 ornamental tailpieces. Pages with some fisiological bloom and natural tanning. Binding with some abrasions and wear to the spine, hinges, corners and boards. In old books with a centuries-long history, some imperfections may be present, not always noted in the description. This listing contains AI Visuals. Refer to the original photographs to verify the object’s actual condition. The images are an integral part of the description. Pp. (4); 2nn; 12; 324; (4).

FULL TITLE AND AUTHOR
Heroic Epistles of P. Ovid Nasone translated by Remigio Fiorentino.
Paris, Durand, 1762.
Publio Ovidio Nasone.
Translation by Remigio Nannini, called Remigio Fiorentino.
Illustrated edition with compositions by Giuseppe Zocchi.

CONTEXT AND SIGNIFICANCE
The Heroides are one of the most original works attributed to Ovid’s fully mature poetic phase: a collection of elegiac letters in which famous women of mythology and ancient literature address the men who loved, betrayed, or abandoned them. The literary device is extraordinarily modern. Ovid transfers myth from the heroic dimension to the private and sentimental sphere: the war of Troy, Ulysses’ travels, the tales of Theseus, Aeneas, Jason and the other heroes are observed from the perspective of the women left waiting. Penelope writes to Ulysses; Briseis to Achilles; Phaedra to Hippolytus; Dido to Aeneas; Ariadne to Theseus; Medea to Jason; Sappho to Faon. The result is a gallery of female voices dominated by love, jealousy, nostalgia, desire, betrayal, and despair. Remigio Nannini’s translation, known as Remigio Fiorentino, belongs to the great sixteenth-century era of vernacular translations of the classics. Published originally in the 16th century, it helped make Ovid accessible to a much broader Italian public than the readers of the Latin text. The Paris edition of 1762 also represents a significant meeting between Italian culture and French editorial taste. The elegant compositions by Giuseppe Zocchi visually translate the romantic events narrated in the epistles and place the volume within the best tradition of European illustrated books of the eighteenth century.

BRIEF BIOGRAPHY OF THE AUTHOR
Publio Ovidio Nasone (Sulmona, 43 BC – Tomi, 17/18 AD) was one of the greatest poets of the Augustan age. Author of the Amores, the Ars amatoria, the Metamorphoses, the Fasti and the works of exile, he exerted immense influence on European literature and art. The Heroides occupy a special place in his oeuvre because they transform already famous mythological figures into protagonists of intimate, psychological monologues, with a sensibility that contributed to the extraordinary fortune of the work in the following centuries. Remigio Nannini (Florence, 1521–1581), a Dominican, scholar, translator and polymath, was also known as Remigio Fiorentino. He played an important role in disseminating Italian vernacular versions of classical and contemporary texts. His translation of the Heroides, first published in 1555, went through numerous reprintings. Giuseppe Zocchi (Florence, 1711–1767) was a painter, draftsman and engraver, famous especially for views of Florence and Tuscany. His compositions for literary and mythological works testify to the narrative and decorative elegance that characterizes Florentine graphic art in the mid-eighteenth century.

PRINTING HISTORY AND CIRCULATION
The Italian translation of the Heroides by Remigio Nannini first appeared in 1555 and enjoyed a long publishing fortune, testimony to Ovid’s popularity in Italian culture between the Renaissance and the Enlightenment. The Paris edition, Durand, 1762, holds a particularly interesting position in the work’s editorial history because it introduces the illustrations conceived by Giuseppe Zocchi. The compositions gained popularity and were subsequently adopted in the French editions. The volume presents an organic illustrative project: portrait of the translator, a figurative title page, 22 narrative headpieces at the opening of the epistles and 8 ornamental tailpieces. The engravings transform the epistles into as many sentimental and theatrical scenes, perfectly coherent with Rococo taste and with the eighteenth-century fortune of mythological love. The presence of all the illustrations is essential in bibliographic and market evaluation of the edition; incomplete copies or those lacking the initial plates are significantly less desirable.

BIBLIOGRAPHY AND REFERENCES
Cohen – De Ricci, Guide de l’amateur de livres à gravures du XVIIIe siècle, p. 774.
Gamba, Serie dei testi di lingua e di altre opere importanti nella italiana letteratura, n. 1559.
ICCU – SBN, catalogo delle edizioni antiche e settecentesche delle opere di Ovidio e delle traduzioni di Remigio Nannini.
WorldCat, bibliographic records of the Paris edition Durand, 1762.
Bibliothèque nationale de France, catalogs of Ovidian editions and French illustrated books of the eighteenth century.
Cicognara, repertories and catalogs relating to the illustrated book, engraving and eighteenth-century figurative arts.
Bibliography of Giuseppe Zocchi’s illustrated works and catalogs of eighteenth-century Italian engraving.
Bibliographic repertoires of Italian translations of Ovid and the editorial fortune of the Heroides.