Ovid's Metamorphoses In Latin And English Translated By The Most Eminent Hands (Dryden, Addison, Pope, Gay, Congreve) With Historical Explications Of the Fables, Written By The Abbott Banier, Member Of The Academy Of Inscriptions And Belles Lettres. Translated Into English. Adorned with Sculptures, by B. Picart, and other able Masters
Amsterdam: Printed for the Wetsteins and Smith, 1732. Picard, Bernard. First Picard Edition. leather_bound. 524 (4) pages. Folio, 47.5 x 30 cm. Title page in red and black, engraved allegorical frontispiece, lacks half title. 130 half page copper engraved plates by Bernard Picart, Charles Le Brun, Maas, Romain et al, plus woodcut head and tail pieces, and initials. Considered one of the very special editions of Ovid's epic transformation. Among the hundreds of classical legends retold are those of Europa, Pygmalion, Midas, Aeneas, Tiresias, Ulysses, Icarus, Pyramus and Thisbe, Diana and Actaeon, Narcissus and Echo, Perseus and Andromeda, Medea and Jason, Venus and Adonis and Orpheus and Eurydice. BRUNET Vol. IV p.285 notes is sought after because of the plates by Picart. He earned a reputation as an artist and engraver, and for a time Paris offered full employment. In 1712 he removed to Amsterdam where he also sold prints. RAY [ART OF THE FRENCH ILLUSTRATED BOOK] p.7 says: "His best-known later works, to the illustration of which his pupil Dubourg contributed more than did Picart himself include Ovid's Metamorphoses......" COHEN-DE-RICCI. pps.348-349. "A magnificent work." LOWNDES III. P.1744. Rebacked preserving original spine, red morocco lettering piece in second compartment with gilt tooling, corners repaired and endsheets renewed. Sporadic toning and embrowning. Contemporary full tree calf. Very good. Two Vols. in one. Item #23784
Price: $4,680.00