Early Venice edition, richly illustrated, of Lodovico Dolces complete translation, in 8-line verses, of Ovids Metamorphoses, first published in 1553, with a second edition in the same year. Mortimer discusses both 1553 editions extensively and adds some information on the 1555 and present 1557 editions. The first has 83 woodcuts plus 11 repeats, but 6 were originally intended to illustrate a Bible, not an Ovid edition. The second edition adds 4 new blocks but omits 5 of the 6 Bible illustrations to make 82 plus a few repeats. The second edition also added ornamental woodcut strips on the sides of some woodcuts to fit the space better. Mortimer notes that the third edition of 1555 and the present fourth of 1557 contain the same woodcut illustrations and decorations as the second 1553 edition.
As noted above, all but one of the present 82 woodcut blocks had been especially designed for Dolces Ovid translation. Giolitos artist chose a number of subjects that had not been illustrated before, and the blocks were carefully cut. The diagram of the winds that appears in many early Ovid editions, has here as in the first edition grown into a hemispherical map covering the Americas, Europe and Africa, with what is now the United States labelled "Nueva Hispania". The historiated initials of various sizes are also of interest, the two largest series being especially finely cut. Our copy is bound in an interesting and very attractive, if somewhat crude, binding. Armorial bookplate on the front paste-down: bird standing on a mound, supported by two stags, the whole with a marquiss(?) crown. In good condition. Binding rubbed and slightly damaged, re-cased with new endpapers; interior spotless. BMC STC Italian, p. 482; Brunet II, 789; ICCU CNCE 64382; Mortimer, Italian 342 note; USTC 845814; cf. Adams O508 (1553 1st Dolce ed.).