OVIDIUS (43 BC - 17/18 AD), CHARLES LE BRUN (1619-1690) SEBASTIEN LE CLERC THE ELDER(1637-1714), FRANÇOIS CHAUVEAU (1613-1676), CHARLES LEBRUN (1619-1690), ISAAC DE BENSERADE (1613-1691)

Metamorphoses d’Ovide en rondeaux imprimez et enrichis de figures par ordre de sa majesté, et dediez à Monsieur le Dauphin A Paris, de l’Imprimerie Royale, 1676


§ 4to (220 x 305); [12], 463, [18] pp. Signature: [no sign.]1-6, A-Z1-4, Aa-Zz1-4, AAa-NNn1-4. Engraved frontispiece, engraved vignette on title page (coat-of-arms of Louis XIV), 2 large engraved tail-pieces, about 226 engraved illustrations. Frontispiece signed by Charles Le Brun (artist) and Sebastien Le Clerc (engraver). Some of the illustrations signed by Sebastien Le Clerc (artist and engraver) and François Chaveau (artist and engraver). Contemporary calf, gilt coat-of-arms of Louis XIV on both covers, spine gilt. Very good copy.

First edition, beautifully illustrated. Benserade was a French poet, writer and playwright; he composed several ballets, which thanks to him became a true literary genre, and collaborated with Lully. The Metamorphoses, as the same Benserade had expected, had no success and it was this failure that prompted him to retire to his house in Gentilly.
Ref. Brunet IV, 288; Graesse, V, p. 90; Schweiger, III, p. 700-701; Benserade: les Métamorphoses d'Ovide en rondeaux