OVIDIUS NASO, Publius.
Metamorphoses, argumentis brevioribus ex luctatio grammatico collectis expositae: una cum vivis singularum transformationum iconibus in aes incises.
Antwerp, Officina Plantiniana [= Jeanne Rivière and Jan I Moretus], [1591]. Oblong 12mo in 8s. With an elaborately engraved border on the title page, divided in four sections with figurative scenes from the Metamorphoses around the title, a full-page oval portrait of Ovid within an ornamental border in Renaissance style, and 178 full-page plates (ca. 7 x 8.5 cm) engraved by Pieter van der Borcht as indicated by his signature on plate 176 (p. 357), full-page engraved printers device of the Officina Plantiniana on p. 362. 17th-century mottled calf, re-backed, gold-tooled spine with the title lettered in gold, red painted edges, marbled endpapers. 361, [20], [1 blank] pp.
€ 12,500
Rare first edition of this suite of 178 full-page engravings by the well-known engraver Pieter van der Borcht - who often worked for Plantin - with prose synopses of the stories from Ovids Metamorphoses on the facing pages from an anonymous adaptation that drastically simplified and summarised these stories. These grammatical explanations were written in order to teach Latin to the youth. The book is, fittingly, dedicated to two young children, Luis and Martin Perez de Baron (p. 3, all in caps). The text has been attributed first to Pseudo-Donatus and then to the late-ancient scholar Luctatius, also known as Lactantius Placidus (ca. 350-400 CE).
With the ex-libris of G.S. Overdiep and of the Buynsters-Smets collection on pastedowns. The work has been re-backed, the edges and corners of the boards show slight signs of wear, cut slightly short, some occasional marginal soiling and spotting. Otherwise in good condition. Adams O 504; Belg. Typ., no. 3913; BMC Dutch Books, p. 164; Bretzigheimer, Studien zu Lactantius Placidus und der Verfasser der Narrationes Fabularum Ovidianarum (1937), II, pp. 92-93; Brunet, Suppl., II, p. 112; Funck 374-375; Henkel 112; Imhof, Jan Moretus and the continuation of the Plantin Press, 2, pp, 570-571, no. O-81; New Hollstein, Pieter van der Borcht, VI, nos. 1655-1834, pp. 136-159 with the reproduction of the etchings on pp. 160-249; Rooses, p. 263; STCV 12925010 (1 copy); USTC 402241; Wurzbach I, 140.
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