Ovidius, Metamorphoses, [Parma, 1505], later half calf

Publius Ovidius Naso

[Habebis candide lector Metamorphosin castigatissimam... Parma: Francesco Mazali, 1 May 1505]

folio (312 x 205mm.), woodcut initials, woodcut illustrations, modern half leather over patterned paper boards, lacking final 4 leaves (containing another letter by Regio and the colophon), first and last leaves of preliminaries slightly browned, slight staining towards end of volume, t7-8 and y1-6 damaged and repaired with some loss of text

A composite copy, with the first eight leaves (containing the preliminaries) from the 1517 edition of the Metamorphoses (Venice: Giorgio Rusconi, 20 April 1517; Edit16 36451; Mortimer, Harvard Italian 338), with almost identical contents to the 1505 Parma edition, down to the same woodcut diagram on the final verso of the preliminaries. Both editions contain the commentary of Raffaelle Regio, and the text of the Metamorphoses is complete.

The woodcuts originate in the 1497 Venice edition, with additional images provided for this edition. "These illustrations for Ovid are among the best examples of the "classic" style influenced by Andrea Mantegna" (Mortimer, p.485).

LITERATURE:

Edit16 75677; Sander 5315 (recording a variant); Mortimer, Harvard Italian 332