1668 Rare Latin Book - OVID's Metamorphoses - Metamorphoseon libri XV. cum notis Th. Farnabii.
Author: OVID - Publius Ovidius Naso; Thomas Farnaby.
Title: Metamorphoseon libri XV. cum notis Th. Farnabii.
Language: Text in Latin.
Publisher: Amstelaedami, typis Ioannis Blaeu, sumptibus Societatis, 1668 Complete 15 books of the Metamorphoses.
Size: 6 " X 3.5 ".
Pages : 380 pages + index.
Binding: Very good, near fine, full calf binding (hinges fine) under a removable protective mylar cover.
Content: Very good content (bright, tight and clean, rare light foxing or staining - as shown, name of a previous owner on the first endpaper).
Illustrations: Complete with the nice illustrated title page.
Estimate: (USD 300 - USD 700)
The book: Rare and very nice 17th-century edition of The Metamorphoses (Latin: Metamorphōseōn librī: "Books of Transformations") --a Latin narrative poem by the Roman poet Ovid, considered his magnum opus. Comprising fifteen books and over 250 myths, the poem chronicles the history of the world from its creation to the deification of Julius Caesar within a loose mythico-historical framework.
The author: Publius Ovidius Naso (20 March 43 BC – AD 17/18), known as Ovid in the English-speaking world, was a Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a contemporary of the older Virgil and Horace, with whom he is often ranked as one of the three canonical poets of Latin literature. The Imperial scholar Quintilian considered him the last of the Latin love elegists. He enjoyed enormous popularity, but, in one of the mysteries of literary history, was sent by Augustus into exile in a remote province on the Black Sea, where he remained until his death. Ovid himself attributes his exile to carmen et error, "a poem and a mistake", but his discretion in discussing the causes has resulted in much speculation among scholars.