OVIDIUS. Publii Ovidii Nasonis Metamorphoseon libri XV. Expurgati, & explanati. Cum appendice de Diis, & Heroibus Poeticis. Auctore Josepho Juvencio e Societate Jesu. Venice (Venetiis), Apud Nicolaum Pezzana, 1715. 12mo. (VI),640,(13 index),(1 blank). Calf 15.5 cm 'Kind of prize copy?' (Ref: Not in Schweiger, though he mentions other editions; cf. Graesse 5,76; cf. Ebert 15445) (Details: Back gilt and with 4 raised bands. Woodcut ornament on the title. § On the lower part of the pages, below Ovid's text, Juvencius notes in Latin) (Condition: Binding scuffed, corners bumped. Head and tail of the spine damaged. Prize inscription on front flyleaf. Paper somewhat foxed and yellowing. Name and old ink inscription on the flyleaf at the end) (Note: The Roman poet Ovidius, 43 B.C. - 17 A.D, 'is perhaps the most consistently influential and popular writer of the classical tradition (...) Most would agree that it is his Metamorphoses that has had the greatest influence, but his other major poems, the Heroides, Tristia, Fasti, and particularly his racier works, the Amores, Ars amatoria, and Remedia amoris, have played their part in maintaining his reputation as a writer of enduring importance and appeal'. (The Classical Tradition, Cambr. Mass. 2010, p. 667) § Ovid was widely read in antiquity, and remained to be read at the Carolingian court in the Middle Ages. The 12th/13th centuries are even called the 'aetas Ovidiana', for Ovid's love elegy was one of the mainsprings of the phaenomenon of courtly love and its literary expression. His 'Ars amatoria' and the 'Remedia' became even part of the school curriculum. Ovid became also the favourite poet of the Renaissance. Especially his 'Metamorphoses' were a source of inspriration for Boccaccio, Dante, Petrarca, Chaucer, Shakespeare, Milton, and in modern times Kafka, T.S. Eliot, Freud, et many others. § This school edition of Metamorphoses of the Roman poet Ovid is the work of the French Jesuit scholar, poet and paedagogue Joseph de Jouvancy, or Jouvency, in Latin Josephus Juvencius, 1643-1719. Jouvancy entered the Society of Jesus when he was sixteen, 'and after completing his studies he taught grammar at the college at Compiègne, and rhetoric at Caen and the College of La Flèche. He made his profession in the latter place in 1677 and was afterwards appointed professor at the Lycee Louis-le-Grand in Paris. In 1699 he was called by his superiors to Rome to continue the history of the Society of Jesus begun by Niccolo Orlandini, and was engaged on this work until his death. (...) Jouvancy edited a large number of school editions of Latin authors, including Terence, Horace, Juvenal, Persius, Martial, the Metamorphoses of Ovid and the philosophical writings of Cicero, such as De Officiis, Cato Major and Laelius'. The texts were revised and purged for school use, and supplied with footnotes in Latin. 'These expurgated editions were frequently reissued well into the 19th century, both in France and other countries'. (Source for Jouvancy Wikipedia) § This Ovid edition was rather popular. Dozens of editions were published in Europe in the 18th and the first half of the 19th century) (Provenance: Piemontese provenance. The manuscript prize is for 'Carolus Philippus Testa' of the 'Schola Clarascensis', and is awarded to him in 1717 by 'Magistro Joê Boucher Tullensi'. Most probably a prize for one Carlo Filippo Testa of a school in the Italian city Cherasco (Clarescum) in Piemonte, and donated by a magister named Johannes Boucher from Toul. § The Piemontese origin seems to be confirmed by the inscription on the verso of the flyleaf at the end. It is in Italian, and is to thank 'mio caro amico' 'Chiera, Pietro da Mondovi' who was a 'compagno in grammatica'. We found a Pietro Chiera from the Piemontese city Modovi who taught Latin grammar at a Piemontese school from 1851 till 1854. § At the end the name 'Rovere, Gio Battista da Magliano, 1863.' Who this Italian from the Tuscan city Magliano was, we could not find out) (Collation: A-2D12, 2E6 (Leaf E6 verso blank))
Book number: 159074 Euro 190.00

Keywords: Altertum, Antike, Antiquity, Dichtkunst, Italian imprint, Latin literature, Metamorphoses, Ovid, Ovidius, Schulbuch, poetry, römische Literatur, schoolbook