M. l'Abbe Bellegarde - Les Metamorphoses D'Ovide - 1688

Ovid – Les Métamorphoses d’Ovide. Avec des Explications à la fin de chaque Fable. Traduction Nouvelle par M. l’Abbé de Bellegarde. Tome Deuxième. Paris, Jean-François Broncart, 1741. Second Edition Corrected.

A rare mid-18th-century French edition of Ovid’s Metamorphoses translated by the Abbé Jean-Baptiste de Bellegarde, a notable French writer and translator of classical literature. This work represents one of the influential French interpretations of Ovid’s mythological epic during the Enlightenment period.

Published in Paris in 1741, this volume is the second corrected edition and forms Volume II of the work. The edition is notable for its scholarly explanatory notes appended to each fable, designed to aid contemporary readers in understanding the moral, allegorical, and classical references within Ovid’s mythology.

The text is printed in elegant 18th-century French typography and is illustrated with fine engraved plates depicting scenes from classical mythology, including episodes such as Apollo and Neptune disguised as masons, King Midas with donkey ears, and other mythological transformations central to Ovid’s narrative.

The book retains its contemporary leather binding with raised bands on the spine, decorated with gilt tooling and compartment ornamentation. The spine bears the volume number and remains structurally intact despite evident age-related wear consistent with books of this period. The binding and typography are characteristic of French provincial printing of the early Enlightenment era.

Ovid’s Metamorphoses has been one of the most influential texts in Western literature and art since antiquity, inspiring painters, poets, and scholars for centuries. French editions such as this one played a crucial role in transmitting classical mythology to 18th-century European readers and artists, particularly during the period when classical antiquity strongly influenced literature, philosophy, and visual arts.

This edition therefore represents both a literary and historical artifact, illustrating how classical mythology was interpreted and disseminated in Enlightenment-era France.

Details

• Author: Publius Ovidius Naso (Ovid)
• Translator: Abbé de Bellegarde
• Title: Les Métamorphoses d’Ovide
• Publication: Paris, Jean-François Broncart, 1741
• Edition: Second corrected edition
• Volume: Tome II
• Language: French
• Binding: Contemporary leather with raised bands and gilt decoration
• Contents: Mythological fables with explanatory commentary and engraved illustrations