Beschreibung:

OVIDIUS NASO, Publius (43 B.C.-18 A.D.) All Ovids Elegies: 3 bookes by C. M. [i.e. Christopher MARLOWE (1564-1593) as translator] Epigrams by J. D. [i.e. Sir John DAVIES (1569-1626)]. At Middlebovrgh [i.e. London, T. Cotes? ca 1640]. 8 o (142 x 87 mm). Collation : A-F 8 . Title with block of four type ornaments. (F1 with repair to outer margin, F2 with piece torn from lower margin, a few headlines shaved). Early 19th-century straight-grained red morocco, covers with single gilt fillet, flat spine ruled in gilt and lettered longitudinally, single fillet turn-ins, edges gilt. Provenance : alternative version of Elegy 17, Book I, attributed to Ben Jonson in a contemporary hand -- Francis Freeling (armorial bookplate) -- 2-page bibliographical note on front flyleaf -- Britwell Court Library (sold Sotheby's, London, 30 March, 1971, lot 249, to John Fleming for £320) -- purchased from John F. Fleming. FINE COPY FROM THE BRITWELL COURT LIBRARY. In 1599 the Bishop of London ordered a list of books including "Davyes Epigrams, with Marlowes Elegyes" to be burnt, as the manuscript note in this volume records. The first unabridged edition in the present series was undated and appeared after 1602. The third edition was issued in c. 1630. The present edition is the fourth and last of the series. ALL FOUR EDITIONS ARE RARE. While Davies's Epigrams were probably written by 1594, Marlowe's translation of Ovid's Amores is in an unformed, juvenile style which suggests that it is far earlier. It may in fact be his earliest surviving work. The alternative version of Elegy 15, Book I, on B6r is signed "B.I." and in this copy, the "I" has been continued to complete the name "Johnson," an attribution now fully accepted. STC 18933. See Grolier Langland to Wither 169; Pforzheimer 641.