Publius Ovidius Naso ()

METAMORPHOSES

1792
Ovids Verwandlungen in Kupfern vorgestellt. Format 8°, 21.6 x 16.5 cm. Title page written in red and blackish-brown ink, in German with Latin captions to the copper engravings. 293, 168, and 170 numbered pages. Manuscript richly interspersed with copper-engraved illustrations. Firm full-leather binding with five raised bands, gilt spine, and gilt lettering on red and black labels respectively. A unique, complete three-volume manuscript calligraphic project of monumental scope. The text was executed by hand by Wenzl Benedict Sack, a judicial and provincial official of the Margraviate of Moravia, directly in Brno ("geschrieben zu Brünn im Jahre 1792"). The text of all three volumes is written in a highly cultivated, fluent period Kurrent script (in brown oak-gall ink) on premium handmade paper with watermarks. Each volume is richly interleaved with inserted printed copper-engraved illustrations (more than 100 plates in total) with Latin captions, depicting scenes from Ovid`s Metamorphoses. The title pages are composed as architectural copper-engraved frames with hand-inscribed text. A copy of the 1791 Vienna edition. An exceptionally complete and, at this scope, unobtainable testament to Moravian bibliophilia, calligraphic art, and bourgeois culture of the late 18th century. Unique. Paper firm, with occasional foxing. Minor rubbing to the binding, otherwise minimal signs of wear.