Ovid's Metamorphoses : Ltd Edition : Folio Society : Full Leather in Clamshell Box

Metamorphoses

By Ovid

Published by Folio Society, London, 2008. Limited Edition. This is No. 1381 of 2750.  Hardcover. First Edition. 4to. Pp: xxxviii, 378. Encased in brown cloth clamshell box with gilt lettering to spine. Bound in full leather by Lachenmaier, Reutlingen, Germany in Nigerian goatskin, blocked with a design by Simon Brett, gilt lettering at spine, brown silk ribbon, and gilt top edge. Illustrated with 16 tipped-in colour plates by Titian.

CONDITION
A fine copy in excellent condition. No damage whatsoever. No writing or names, marks, stains etc. Overall a very good clean copy of this limited edition.

The Metamorphoses is a Latin narrative poem from 8 CE by the Roman poet Ovid. It is considered his magnum opus. The poem chronicles the history of the world from its creation to the deification of Julius Caesar in a mythico-historical framework comprising over 250 myths, 15 books, and 11,995 lines.

Although it meets some of the criteria for an epic, the poem defies simple genre classification because of its varying themes and tones. Ovid took inspiration from the genre of metamorphosis poetry and some of the Metamorphoses derives from earlier treatment of the same myths; however, he diverged significantly from all of his models.

One of the most influential works in Western culture, the Metamorphoses has inspired such authors as Dante Alighieri, Giovanni Boccaccio, Geoffrey Chaucer, and William Shakespeare. Numerous episodes from the poem have been depicted in works of sculpture, painting, and music, especially during the Renaissance. There was a resurgence of attention to his work towards the end of the 20th century. Today the Metamorphoses continues to inspire and be retold through various media. Numerous English translations of the work have been made, the first by William Caxton in 1480.

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