OVIDE. Les Métamorphoses, in Latin and French, from the translation by M. l'Abbé Banier. Paris, Le Clerc (t. I-II), Nyon aîné (t. III-IV), 1767-1770. 4 volumes in-4, olive morocco, gilt roulette, ornate spine, inner lace, gilt edges (Period binding). "A superb work by the publisher Basan and the engraver Le Mire. It is one of the most gallantly illustrated of the entire century" (Cohen). The French translation by Abbé Antoine Banier is printed opposite the Latin text; it is accompanied by historical explanations and a Life of Ovid taken from his writings by M. G***. Magnificent illustration engraved under the direction of Noël Le Mire. It consists of a title-frontispiece and 3 pp. of dedication to the Duc de Chartres, drawn and engraved by Choffard, 139 out-of-text figures engraved after Boucher, Eisen, Gravelot, Monnet, Moreau, etc., and 34 vignettes and a full-page cul-de-lampe, executed by Choffard after his drawings or those of Monnet. Copy of the second printing, with the fourth volume dated 1770 and p. 215 of the third volume erroneously marked 209. A very fine copy in contemporary olive morocco. Spines uniformly faded. Cohen, 769 - Brunet, IV, 286.