FULL TITLE: Ovid’s Metamorphoses Englished, Mythologiz’d, and Represented in Figures. An Essay to the Translation of Virgil’s Aeneis (1st illustrated edition)
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Written by Publius Ovidius Naso (Ovid)
Translated by George Sandys
Printed by John Lichfield and William Stansby, London, 1632
DESCRIPTION:
"One of the most interesting and popular books of the reign of Charles I... Throughout the century it was reprinted many times, once again in folio and often in duodecimo. The 1632, however, remained the standard text and the most beautiful edition" (Beale Davis, 1948).
The first illustrated edition of George Sandys’s influential English translation of Ovid’s Metamorphoses. His translation was the first significant European literary effort carried out in North America or Turtle Island. An important seventeenth-century English Ovid, illustrated with an engraved title, a portrait of Ovid, and fifteen full-page copperplate engravings by Salomon Savery after Francis Cleyn—one accompanying each book of the Metamorphoses.
Ovidius Naso, Publius. Ovid’s Metamorphosis Englished, Mythologiz’d, and Represented in Figures. An Essay to the Translation of Virgil’s Aeneis. Oxford and London: John Lichfield and William Stansby, 1632. The second complete edition of Sandys’s translation, revised and illustrated, folio,[20], 549 [i.e. 521], [1]; with 3-line initials on the errata page, printed marginal commentary; illustrated with an additional allegorical engraved title, a full-page engraved portrait of Ovid, and fifteen full-page copperplate engravings by Salomon Savery after designs by Francis Cleyn, one accompanying each book of the Metamorphoses; bound in modern white cloth-backed patterned boards with renewed endpapers, from the library of British art critic and essayist Alan Clutton-Brock (1904–1976), then by family descent.
An influential and visually ambitious edition that established the form in which Sandys’s translation circulated through the remainder of the seventeenth century.
Sandys first published Books I–V of his translation in 1621. After travelling to Virginia as treasurer of the Virginia Company, he issued the first complete edition in 1626. The present 1632 edition substantially revised and expanded that text, adding its extensive commentaries, copperplate illustrations, and Sandys’s translation of the first book of Virgil’s Aeneid.
References: STC (2nd ed.) 18966; ESTC S121877; Madan I, p. 163; Sabin 76458; Moss II, p. 357; Richard Beale Davis (1941; 1948; 1956);
CONDITION: Good condition. Modern white cloth-backed, patterned paper covered boards with renewed endpapers; boards rubbed and marked with losses and bumped corners; spine lettered in gilt with the author, title and translator’s name. Allegorical engraved title trimmed and remounted in wrong order, appearing first rather than beside "The Minde of the Frontispiece." Title page with areas of loss, somewhat crudely restored with blank paper along the margins and central portion of the recto and more extensively on the verso, "The Minde of the Frontispiece," bearing an early ownership signature, possibly “William—,” and manuscript numerals. Occasional small paper repairs throughout, not affecting the text or illustrations. Foxing, staining, smudging, handling marks and creasing throughout, with some formerly dog-eared corners. Further signs of use include a manuscript notation, providing what seems to be an alternative translation, on p. 101, and numerous pencilled “V” or check marks throughout. Small hole to the plate opposite p. 201; pronounced gutter staining between pp. 225–241 and 276–296; paper remnants and exposed binding thread between pp. 254–255; and a small hole to p. 315, slightly affecting the text. Blank p. 368 partially adhered to the following plate. A desiccated fly remains at p. 486, with accumulated debris in the rear gutter beyond the endpaper.
BOOK MEASUREMENTS: Folio, 32.5 cm × 21.5 cm.
TOTAL LENGTH: [20], 549 [i.e. 521], [1] pages; additional engraved title, engraved portrait of Ovid, and fifteen full-page engraved plates.
Erratic Pagination:[20], 1–38, p.37, 46–124, 145–184, p.187, 186–241, p.248, 243–246, p.241, 248–323, 334-335, 326–480, p.480, 482–487, [1], 491–499, p.200, 501–504, p.405, 506–549, [1] pp.; numerous errors in pagination, text continuous.
