Les Metamorphoses d’Ovide, en Latin et en Francois.

One of the finest works of illustration ever published, marking the transition from Rococo to the Neo-Classical Era of European art.

Illustrated with 139 full-page plates by Boucher, Eisen, Gravelot, Monnet, Moreau, and others.
Plus engraved title,
3 pages of dedications,
4 fleurons on title pages,
30 engraved vignettes and
1 full-page cul-de-lampe by Choffard and Monnet closing Volume 4.
Engraved by Le Mire and Basan.

Large 4to. Full 18th century French marbled calf; spine with 5 raised bands; red and green morocco labels; gilt spines, gilt borders and edges; original hand-marbled endpapers. A Paris, Chez Leclerc. 1767 to 1771.
4 volumes.

Ovid's Metamorphoses are of course, are some of the most famous stories to survive from antiquity; they tell, essentially, a history of the world in dactylic hexameter, the meter of the epics. Ovid's stories are as foundational to Western literature as any other book written; they include the story of Io and Jupiter, the stories of Cadmus, Pyramus and Thisbe (of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream), Philomela, Andromeda, Proserpina, Arachne, Niobe, Daedalus and Icarus, Orpheus and Eurydice, Hercules, Atalanta, Romulus, Pythagorus, Hippolytus, Caesar, and the great contest between Ajax and Odysseus for the arms of Achilles.

Minor scuffing and wear to binding; occasional minor marginal toning; o/w clean and bright, with clear print and ample margins throughout. The engraved plates and other illustrations are excellent impressions. A fine copy of an important book.