Les metamorphoses d’Ovide, en latin et en françois, de la traduction de M. L’Abbé Banier (…) avec des explications historiques.

Pissot/Prault/Le Clerc, Paris, 1767–71

First edition of the famous 4-volume edition of Ovid’s Metamorphoses by Pierre-François Basan and Noël Le Mire. “One of the most brilliantly illustrated of the entire century” (Cohen/R. p. 769). Large paper issue.

Description: 4 vols., contemporary marbled calf, sides ruled with triple gilt fillet and decorative gilt roll to board edges. Spine richly gilt in compartments between five raised bands, with two brown morocco labels, lettered gilt. Marbled endpapers. Large square octavo: 25 × 19 cm; pag.: (vol. 1) [5ll.], xc, [2 –approbation], 264; (vol. 2) vii, 352; (vol. 3) viii, 360; (vol. 4) viii, 367, 8. With 140 numbered engraved plates (No. 1 frontispiece, 2–140 with printed captions), 1 final plate in vol. 4, 4 title page vignettes, 3 engraved dedication vignettes in vol. 1, 30 engraved headpieces. All edges gilt.

Ref.: Brunet IV, 285; Cohen/R. 769; Fürstenberg 79

Provenance: Bookseller’s paper label with black lettering “Se trouve à Mannheim chez Charles Fontaine” to front free endpaper of vol. 1. Charles Fontaine (1724–1802) was one of the most important distributors of Enlightenment literature in south-west Germany. His “librairie françois”, founded in Mannheim in 1742, became an important centre of the French book trade. In 1777 Charles Fontaine passed his bookshop on to his son Matthias Fontaine (1749–1818), who ran it until 1816.

Condition: Boards lightly rubbed, corners a little bumped, small wormholes at joints of vols. iii and iv, a few minor marks to boards. Contents with usual light age toning and occasional light handling marks, some offsetting of engravings. A very attractive, excellently illustrated and beautifully bound edition.

Notes: The work contains Ovid’s original Latin text alongside a French prose translation by Abbé Antoine Banier, a renowned scholar of the Académie Royale des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres. Banier’s translation, first published in 1732, is accompanied by historical explanations which enhance its scholarly value. It also includes a “Vie d'Ovide” (Life of Ovid) by M. Goujet, based on his writings, which provides a biographical context. This edition can be considered a collaborative masterpiece of 18th-century French bookmaking. The engravings, executed by accomplished artists such as Choffard, Baquoy, de Ghendt and Duclos, exemplify the elegance and complexity of the Rococo style, making this edition an outstanding example of the “galant” illustration of its time. This edition, overseen by the distinguished editors Basan and Le Mire, is a testament to the apogee of 18th-century French printing and artistic achievement. Its preeminence in the field of book illustration is further underlined by the esteem in which it was held by bibliophiles such as Cohen, who considered it one of the most aesthetically pleasing publications of its time, a testament to the harmonious blend of literature, art and craftsmanship that characterised the cultural milieu of the 18th century. It stands out not only for its literary fidelity to Ovid’s transformative myths, but also for its lavish visual and material execution, making it a landmark in the history of illustrated books.