Beschreibung:

OVIDIUS NASO, Publius (43 B.C .-17? A.D .). Les xv livres de la Metamorphose . Paris: Denys Janot, 1539.
OVIDIUS NASO, Publius (43 B.C .-17? A.D .). Les xv livres de la Metamorphose . Paris: Denys Janot, 1539. 3 parts in one volume, 8° (136 x 92mm). 258 woodcut illustrations printed from 135 blocks. (Faint even browning throughout.) Citron morocco by Trautz-Bauzonnet, large gilt fleuron centrepiece on covers, spine with raised bands, lettered in gilt and with gilt fleurons, gilt inner dentelles, red morocco doublures, marbled and gilt edges. Provenance : Guyot de Villeneuve (part I, 1900, no. 326) -- Lebeuf de Montgermont (sale VII, 1914, lot 238) -- Edouard Rahir (booklabel, sale II, 1931, lot 619) -- Sylvain Brunschwig (booklabel, sale I, Geneva 1955, lot 510) -- Giraud-Badin (pencilled collation note). A RICHLY ILLUSTRATED EDITION WITH REMARKABLE WOODCUTS, SOME IN THE STYLE OF GEOFFROY TORY. THE GUYOT DE VILLENEUVE-MONTGERMONT-RAHIR-BRUNSCHWIG-GIRAUD-BADIN COPY. 'A total of two hundred fifty-eight woodcuts in the three parts, by repetition of one hundred forty-one blocks. There were at least eight different artisans involved in the cutting of these blocks. Some subjects are based on the Vergil illustrations employed in Jean Réal’s 1538 edition of this translation. Others are from miscellaneous sets. This Ovid is an excellent example of the volumes which Janot illustrated from a general stock of woodcuts, chiefly mythological and romance… Janot’s close affinity with Geoffroy Tory may be seen not only in his use of the "lettres fleuries" initials and the borrowing of decorative elements… but in his continuance of Tory’s experiments in the Italianate woodcut… Among the Italianate blocks in this Ovid is a Proserpina scene (leaf L2v) in which Pluto and his horse are solid black with white details' (Mortimer). Rauch cites Firmin Didot in his catalogue description for the Brunschwig sale about the fine engravings: 'Les progrès de l’art se trouvent résumés en quelque sorte dans dans ce charmant petit volume. Nulle part sa marche ne saurait être plus évidente… Dans le cours de l’ouvrage on rencontre des gravures qui me paraissent dessinés soit par Jean Cousin soit par G. Tory, à en juger par l’élégance'. Brun, p. 263; cat. Brunschwig, 510 ('charmant et rare petit volume, un des plus jolis livres sortis des presses de Denis Janot'); Mortimer, Harvard French 399; Guyot de Villeneuve 326 ('les majuscules sont celles de l’alphabet du Champfleury').