The Art Of Love
Condition: SECONDHAND
This is a secondhand book. The jacket image is a photograph of the exact copy we have in stock. This image shows the condition of this book. Further condition remarks are below.
Condition remarks:
Book: Very good
Jacket: Slipcase: Good
Pages: Good
Condition remarks: light foxing on boards
Few works in the Western literary canon have so boldly and brilliantly codified the art of seduction as Ovid's The Art of Love — a witty, audacious instruction manual on the pursuit of romantic conquest, written at the height of the Roman Empire. Originally composed in Latin verse around 2 AD by Publius Ovidius Naso, the didactic poem presents its reader with a masterclass in courtship, detailing where to find a lover in Rome, how to win their affections, and how to keep the flame alive — all delivered with the urbane wit and playful irony for which Ovid remains unmatched in classical literature. This sumptuous 1993 Folio Society edition, translated into elegant English verse by James Michie and accompanied by original paintings by Grahame Baker, breathes vivid life into a text that scandalized Augustus and cemented Ovid's controversial genius. Beneath its playful surface, The Art of Love is a sharp and subversive commentary on Roman society, gender, and desire — a work so provocative it is widely believed to have contributed to Ovid's eventual exile from Rome. Michie's translation preserves the poem's quicksilver tone with remarkable fidelity, balancing scholarly precision with the rhythmic pleasure of verse that feels startlingly modern. This Folio Society edition stands as a collector's treasure, uniting one of antiquity's most daring literary voices with the finest traditions of the illustrated book — leaving one to wonder just how much of Ovid's ancient advice still holds true today.
Author: Publius Ovidius Naso
Format: Hardback
Published: 1993, The Folio Society
Genre: Poetry
Condition remarks:
Book: Very good
Jacket: Slipcase: Good
Pages: Good
Condition remarks: light foxing on boards
Few works in the Western literary canon have so boldly and brilliantly codified the art of seduction as Ovid's The Art of Love — a witty, audacious instruction manual on the pursuit of romantic conquest, written at the height of the Roman Empire. Originally composed in Latin verse around 2 AD by Publius Ovidius Naso, the didactic poem presents its reader with a masterclass in courtship, detailing where to find a lover in Rome, how to win their affections, and how to keep the flame alive — all delivered with the urbane wit and playful irony for which Ovid remains unmatched in classical literature. This sumptuous 1993 Folio Society edition, translated into elegant English verse by James Michie and accompanied by original paintings by Grahame Baker, breathes vivid life into a text that scandalized Augustus and cemented Ovid's controversial genius. Beneath its playful surface, The Art of Love is a sharp and subversive commentary on Roman society, gender, and desire — a work so provocative it is widely believed to have contributed to Ovid's eventual exile from Rome. Michie's translation preserves the poem's quicksilver tone with remarkable fidelity, balancing scholarly precision with the rhythmic pleasure of verse that feels startlingly modern. This Folio Society edition stands as a collector's treasure, uniting one of antiquity's most daring literary voices with the finest traditions of the illustrated book — leaving one to wonder just how much of Ovid's ancient advice still holds true today.