OVID, (43 B.C.--17 or 18 A.D.)
[Metamorphoses. Plates. French. 1767--1770]
Les métamorphoses d'Ovide gravées sur les desseins des meilleurs peintres Français. Par les soins des Srs. le Mire et Basan graveurs.
A Paris, chez Basan, Le Mire,, [1767--70].
[144] pl. (3-page dedic. on 2 leaves, 140 pl., [1] colophon leaf), 20 p. engr. text ; 24.3 cm. (4º)

Title-page = pl. 1. The dedication to the Duc de Chartres is signed as engraved by Pierre-Philippe Choffard (1730--1809) and both it and the title-page are dated 1767; the final colophon vignette, also by Choffard, is dated 1770. This masterpiece of French rococco book illustration, engraved after designs by Eisen, Gravelot, Moreau and others was also available as the last volume in a four-volume bilingual edition of the Metamorphoses (Paris, 1767-71) with Antoine Banier's translation originally published in Amsterdam, 1732 (q.v.). See Gordon Ray, The art of the French illustrated book, 1700 to 1914 (New York, 1982), p. 105). The engraved plates have been digitized by the University of Virginia's Electronic Text Center as part of the Ovid Collection: see http://etext.virginia.edu/latin/ovid/metamorphosesgravees.html. (Accessed 8 October 2008.)

Copy Notes Copy 1: Inscribed in pencil on front free-endpaper. Duke of Roxburgh's Copy Lot 1611/ 141 Plates Proof Impressions/ 3.13.6. The famous library of the 3rd Duke of Roxburghe (1740--1804) was sold in 1812.
Copy 2: 25.8 cm. Imperfect; plates 1--38 and the dedication only.

Binding Copy 1: C18th red morocco, gilt-tooled borders with floral corner pieces, gilt-tooled arms of the Duke of Roxburghe on upper and lower covers, gilt tooled spine, green spine label, gilt edges.
Copy 2: C18th red straight-grain morocco, gilt-tooled borders with flower and bird motif and vase corner pieces, gilt-tooled and direct-lettered spine, gilt edges.

Reference Number 2925

Additional Names Roxburghe, John Ker, 3rd Duke of (1740--1812); Basan, Pierre-François (1723--1797); Le Mire, Noël (1724--1800)