Royal Binding.- Ovid & [Benserade (Isaac De)]

Metamorphoses of Ovid in rondeaux, FIRST EDITION, first printing, woodcut Royal arms on title, additional engraved title by Sébastien le Clerc after Le Brun, and 226 text illustrations by Le Clerc, François Chauveau & J. Le Pautre, title a little dusty, G1 & Gg2 tears to lower blank margin, slight browning, occasional spotting, short inscription in old French to front pastedown, contemporary calf, spine gilt with title (repaired), boards bearing the arms of Louis XIV, [Brunet, IV, 288 – Tchemerzine-Scheler, I, 614; Méaume, «Note sur une édition originale d'un ouvrage de Benserade servant à éclaircir un point de l'histoire galante de Louis XIV», in 'Bulletin du bibliophile', 1875, p. 285], 4to, Imprimerie royale, Paris, 1676.

*** First edition in old French verse form (the ‘rondeau’), financed by the king and dedicated to the dolphin. A small number of copies printed on large paper with the best proofs of the engravings, linked to the royal arms, had been distributed by the monarch himself during the second half of the year 1676. The edition was commissioned by Louis XIV to the poet Isaac de Benserade because he was an old friend of Madame de Ludre, canoness of Poussay, with whom the king had fallen in love. Particularly, the rondeau of the metamorphosis of Io into a goddess is it a tribute to Madame de Ludre, while three rondeaux at the end of the work unveil in acrostic the names of Madame de Ludre and of Louix XIV.