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DOLCE (Lodovico). Le Trasformationi.
See original version (French)
DOLCE (Lodovico). Le Trasformationi.
See original version (French)
Lot no. 39
DOLCE (Lodovico).
Le Trasformationi.
Venice: Gabriele Giolio de Ferrari, 1555. - In-4, 238 x 154 : (8 ff.), 309 pp. Glazed havana calf, double gilt fillet framing the boards, gilt "Ed" in the centre of the first board, spine ribbed, spotted edges (19th century binding).
Third edition, after the two published in 1553, of the adaptation into the Italian vernacular of Ovid's Metamorphoses by the humanist Lodovico Dolce (1508-1568).
"The work had been announced as early as 1551, in Giolito's edition of Orlando Furioso, but in reality its gestation period had been much longer. In fact, after the attempted First Book of Ovid's Transformations by M. Lodouico Dolce in Volgare Traduzione, published in Venice in 1539 by Francesco Bindoni and Maffeo Pasini, the project of a complete translation of Ovid's poem was pursued by Dolce in collaboration with Gabriel Giolito de' Ferrari. The first privilege to publish Ovid's Metamorphoses translated by Dolce into ottava rima was requested by the publisher in 1548. Granted for ten years, the privilege had to be renewed in 1550 and again in 1552, for a period of fifteen years, in view of Dolce's delay in delivering the work. Meanwhile, the competing vernacular translation by Giovanni Andrea dell'Anguillara was weighing on the enterprise, to the point of prompting Gabriel Giolito to insert the propaganda notice addressed to the many readers of Orlando Furioso" (Les Muses parmi les livres. Venetian illustrated books from the 16th and 17th centuries at the University Library of Padua).
This edition, dedicated like the first editions to Antoine Perrenot de Granvelle (1517-1586), features a handsome title frame and 85 woodcut vignettes in the text, attributed to Giovanni Antonio Rusconi, compared with 94 in the first edition. All of them feature a decorative ornament on either side of the engraving, except for the one on page 3 depicting a globe surrounded by the various winds. "The northern and southern parts of the hemisphere are separated by a latitudinal band and the words "Zona Torrida Inhabitabile". The Strait of Magellan is named and wind cherubs border the map" (Shirley, The Mapping of the World, 95).
A copy from the library of the Marquess of Hertford, with the bookplate of his Ragley Hall library and the initials ED on the front board.
Binding restored, spine completely rebound, corners dulled. Very good condition inside.
Provenance: handwritten bookplate on title, dated 1559. - Marquis of Hertford, with bookplate and gilt initials on one board.
See original version (French)
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