[Opera] Metamorphoseon libri XV.

RARE POCKET EDITION OF OVID

(Bound with:) Fastorum lib. VI. Tristium lib. V. De ponto lib. IIII.

(And:) Amatoria. Quorum indicem sequens continet pagella.

Lyon, Godefroy & Marcellin Beringen, 

Printer's 'Bona fide' device (Silvestre no. 4) on each title-page, final two parts with 'Sine fraude' ring device (Silvestre no. 2) on final leaf, woodcut initials, printed in italic throughout.

3 parts in one vol. 16mo (125 x 77mm). 453pp. [1]f; 431pp; 421pp. [1]f. 19th century red morocco, covers richly gilt in the fanfare style of the late 16th century, spine with raised bands and lettered 'OVIDIUS' in gilt with a fleuron in each compartment, plain edges.

Rare Lyon pocket edition of the complete works of Ovid, printed in a fine italic described by Baudrier as the 'petite cursive de Robert Granjon'. The printers Godefroy and Marcellin Beringen were brothers of German origin who began printing at Lyon c. 1544. Godefroy was a humanist in the circle of Etienne Dolet (see Baudrier III, pp. 31-35). OCLC/USTC only locate single volumes of the Metamorphoses and Fastorum. Gryphius published an edition in the same year with the same pagination (see Baudrier VIII, p. 216).

The binding is a very good 19th-century pastiche of the late 16th century French fanfare style, although the largely undecorated spine with raised bands and lettering is more reminiscent of a mid-16th century French binding.

Baudrier III, pp. 44/5 (Fastorum only). See also Hendrik Vervliet The Palaeotypography of the French Renaissance (2008), p. 326.

OCLC Metamorphoses only: Victoria University E.J. Pratt library of the University of Toronto. 

Sybille von Gültlingen, Bibliographie des livres imprimés à Lyon au seizième siècle, 14 vols (Baden-Baden, V. Koerner, 1992-2010), X p. 44:34 & 45:35.

Stock Code: 247821