Ovidii Nasonis Opera Daniel Heinsis textum recensuit.

Three volumes, 12mo (125 x 73 mm). Volume 1: [24], 344 pp. 8* A-Y⁸. Volume 2: [16], 442 (wrongly numbered 444), [6] pp. 8* A-Z ⁸ Aa-Ee⁸ . Volume 3: [12], 420 pp. 6* a-z⁸ aa-cc⁸ dd² (quire g misbound). Contemporary stiff vellum: premium binding enriched by two gilt concentric frames and a bipartite shield bearing four lions passant at the head, flanked by a pair of rampant lions, the coat-of-arms of the city of Rotterdam, where the production of premium bindings was divided between the workshops of the Bloemenvaas group and Hertenbinderji, smooth spine with four gilt ornamental flowers and shelf marks ("B." and "Y.548") on black labels (signs of ties, brownish or red sealing-wax stains only on the cover of volume two). Armorial bookplate of Welbeck Abbey (historic country house near the village of Welbeck in the Bassetlaw District of Nottinghamshire), same engraved coat-of-arms on the front pastedown and flyleaf of volume one, belonging to the Sixth Duke of Portland William Arthur K.G. Engraved architectural title page in volume one, woodcut printer's device on the title page of volume two and three; woodcut historiated initials, head and tail pieces. Slightly browned and with minor marginal stains, bookblock of volume two partially detached from the binding, overall a good, genuine copy. 

First Elzevier edition edited by Daniel Heinsius of Ovid's collected works. Editor's dedication to Adriaan van Blyenbergh (Dutch nobleman, jurist and high magistrate who lived between the late 16th and early 17th century, known as Lord of Naaldwij and Praetor of Dordrecht) opening volume one.  Daniel Heinsius was one of the most distinguished intellectuals of the Dutch Golden Age, a renowned scholar, poet, theologian, and classical philologist whose influence extended across Europe. Born in Ghent and later active in Leiden, he became a professor at the University of Leiden at a remarkably young age and earned international recognition for his mastery of Greek, Latin, and classical literature. Heinsius was especially admired for his editions and commentaries on ancient authors such as Aristotle, Horace, and Virgil, helping shape the study of classical texts in early modern Europe. Alongside his academic work, he wrote elegant Neo-Latin poetry and Dutch verse, combining Renaissance humanism with the intellectual spirit of the Protestant Netherlands. His correspondence and scholarship connected him with many of the leading thinkers of the 17th century, making him a central figure in European humanist culture.

Volume three begins with Angelo Poliziano's (one of the leading humanists of the Italian Renaissance, a poet, classical scholar, and close associate of the Medici court in Florence, he became famous for his elegant Latin and Italian writings and for his pioneering studies of ancient Greek and Roman texts) Elegia de exilio et morte Ovidi, a touching poem celebrating Ovid misterious exile by Emperor Augustus in CE. The volume also collects the notes of Joseph Justus Scaliger (1540–1609), known in Italian as Giuseppe Flavio Giusto Scaligero, one of the greatest Renaissance scholars and philologists of early modern Europe. Born in Agen, France, he became famous for revolutionizing the study of ancient history, chronology, and classical texts. Scaliger possessed an extraordinary command of languages, including Greek, Latin, Hebrew, and several Eastern languages, which allowed him to compare ancient sources with unprecedented precision. His groundbreaking works on chronology helped historians reconcile Greek, Roman, Persian, Jewish, and Egyptian timelines, fundamentally transforming historical scholarship. In 1593 he accepted a prestigious appointment at the University of Leiden in the Dutch Republic, where he spent the rest of his life and became one of the intellectual giants of the European Republic of Letters.

Born in Sulmona, east of Rome, into a wealthy equestrian family, Ovid was educated in rhetoric and law but soon abandoned a political career in favor of poetry. Writing during the reign of Emperor Augustus, he became the youngest and most stylistically innovative member of the great generation of Augustan poets that included Virgil and Horace. Ovid first achieved fame through his sophisticated and playful elegiac poetry, especially the Amores (“The Loves”), a collection of witty poems exploring romance, seduction, jealousy, and the theatrical nature of love. He expanded this literary persona in the Heroides, a remarkable series of fictional letters written in the voices of mythological heroines such as Penelope, Dido, and Medea, giving psychological depth and emotional agency to women from classical myth. His most controversial work was the Ars Amatoria (“The Art of Love”), a mock-didactic poem offering advice on seduction, relationships, and erotic intrigue in urban Roman society. Clever, ironic, and highly sophisticated, the poem clashed with Augustus' moral reforms promoting traditional family values. Ovid later claimed that this work contributed to his downfall. His masterpiece, however, is the Metamorphoses, a monumental narrative poem in fifteen books that recounts over 250 myths of transformation drawn from Greek and Roman mythology. Beginning with the creation of the world and ending with the deification of Julius Caesar, the poem links stories through the theme of change. Among its most famous episodes are the tales of Daphne and Apollo, Narcissus, Pygmalion, Orpheus and Eurydice, Daedalus and Icarus, and Perseus and Medusa. Ovid also composed the Fasti, an unfinished poetic calendar describing Roman religious festivals, customs, and myths month by month. The work combines antiquarian scholarship with vivid storytelling and offers invaluable insight into Roman religion and civic life. After his exile, In works such as the Tristia (“Sorrows”) and the Epistulae ex Ponto (“Letters from the Black Sea”), he lamented his isolation from Rome, pleaded unsuccessfully for pardon, and reflected on memory, loss, and literary immortality. Despite his banishment, Ovid's legacy only grew stronger after his death. Throughout the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, his myths became a central source for European art and storytelling, including Dante, Chaucer, Shakespeare, Milton, and Goethe or painters such as Titian, Rubens, and Bernini.

Willems, 317; OCLC, 65959845.

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