Les Métamorphoses d'Ovide gravés sur les desseins des meilleurs peintres Français. Par les soins des Sr. le Mire et Basan graveurs.Paris: chez Basan & Le Mire, 1770

'SUPREME ANTHOLOGY OF FRENCH ROCOCO BOOK ILLUSTRATION'

Engraved title-page by Choffard, 139 plates after Choffard, Boucher, Eisen, Gravelot and others by Choffard, Lemire, Basan and others; engraved three-page dedication and 20-page index.

4to (247 x 165mm). [2]ff. 2-140 [1]; 20pp. Contemporary red morocco gilt, single gilt fillet on covers, ornament at each corner, spines richly gilt in compartments, each with a large floral tool, stamped sideways in the panel at foot, label in dark green morocco, g.e.

A finely bound copy of 'the supreme anthology of French rococo book illustration'(Ray), illustrated with plates by such eminent French artists of the 18th century as Boucher, Moreau, Eisen, Choffard, Monnet and Gravelot. Ray describes the plates being 'as imaginative as they are elegant'.

The suite found here also illustrated the new French translation by abbé Banier published in a four volume set 1767-1771. Ray explains the background "As is evidenced by the engraved title [to the Banier translation], the plates were at first planned to appear as a separate suite under the supervision of Le Mire and Basan, who chose the artists from among 'the best French painters' and saw to the realisation of their designs by the most adroit engravers. The plates were so issued by Basan in 1770, but in the meantime they had been incorporated in an edition of the Métamorphoses for which the abbé had provided a new translation, printed opposite Ovid's Latin text.'

A few plates toned but generally in very good condition.

Provenance: 19th-century armorial bookplates of Laker and the Apley Library. The Apley Hall estate, near Bridgnorth, Shropshire had been bought by the industrialist William Orme Foster (1814-99) in 1867.

Ray 62 & Cohen-de Ricci,(1767-71 ed).

Stock Code: 252770