Art of Love and Cures for Love

The Brotherton Ovid

Learn about the remarkable Brotherton Collection copy of the works of Ovid, printed in Parma in 1477. Discover who owned the books, and who might have added the hundreds of marginal annotations and colourful illustrations.

Incunabula – the first European printed books

Notes on incunabula (books printed in Europe before 1501) kept in Special Collections in the Brotherton Library at the University of Leeds.

The Brotherton Ovid

Notes on the unique aspects of three incunabula (books printed in Europe before 1501) kept in Special Collections in the Brotherton Library at the University of Leeds. The books contain the works of the Roman poet Ovid and were printed by Stephanus Coralllus in Parma in 1477.

Condition and binding

Notes on the condition and binding of three incunabula (books printed in Europe before 1501) kept in Special Collections in the Brotherton Library at the University of Leeds. The books contain the works of the Roman poet Ovid and were printed by Stephanus Coralllus in Parma in 1477.

Provenance - who owned the books?

Notes on three incunabula (books printed in Europe before 1501) kept in Special Collections in the Brotherton Library at the University of Leeds. The books contain the works of the Roman poet Ovid and were printed by Stephanus Coralllus in Parma in 1477. FInd out more about the provenance of the books.

Dietrich von Plieningen

Dietrich von Plieningen was a former owner of three incunabula (books printed in Europe before 1501) kept in Special Collections in the Brotherton Library at the University of Leeds. The books contain the works of the Roman poet Ovid and were printed by Stephanus Coralllus in Parma in 1477.

Leonhard von Eck

Leonhard von Eck was a former owner of three incunabula (books printed in Europe before 1501) kept in Special Collections in the Brotherton Library at the University of Leeds. The books contain the works of the Roman poet Ovid and were printed by Stephanus Coralllus in Parma in 1477.

Oswald von Eck

Oswald von Eck was a was a former owner of one of the items held at Special Collections at Leeds University, a three volume set of the works of Ovid printed in Parma in 1477. He added the numerous annotations and drawings that appear in the margins.

Georg Franz Burkhard Kloss

Georg Franz Burkhard Kloss was a former owner of three incunabula (books printed in Europe before 1501) kept in Special Collections in the Brotherton Library at the University of Leeds. The books contain the works of the Roman poet Ovid and were printed by Stephanus Coralllus in Parma in 1477.

William Horatio Crawford

William Horatio Crawford was a former owner of three incunabula (books printed in Europe before 1501) kept in Special Collections in the Brotherton Library at the University of Leeds. The books contain the works of the Roman poet Ovid and were printed by Stephanus Coralllus in Parma in 1477.

Edward Allen Brotherton

Edward Allen Brotherton acquired one of the most remarkable items held at Special Collections in the Brotherton Library at the University of Leeds. This set of three incunabula (books printed in Europe before 1501) contains the works of the Roman poet Ovid. The books were printed by Stephanus Coralllus in Parma in 1477.

Brotherton Ovid cutting with illustrations

Other individuals associated with the books

People associated wtih the copy of the works of Ovid printed in Parma in 1477 and held at Special Collections at the University of Leeds.

Sebastian Linck

Sebastian Linck is associated with three incunabula (books printed in Europe before 1501) kept in Special Collections in the Brotherton Library at the University of Leeds. The books contain the works of the Roman poet Ovid and were printed by Stephanus Coralllus in Parma in 1477.

Philipp Melanchthon

Philipp Melanchthon is associated with three incunabula (books printed in Europe before 1501) kept in Special Collections in the Brotherton Library at the University of Leeds. The books contain the works of the Roman poet Ovid and were printed by Stephanus Coralllus in Parma in 1477.

Samuel Leigh Sotheby

Samuel Leigh Sotheby is associated with three incunabula (books printed in Europe before 1501) kept in Special Collections in the Brotherton Library at the University of Leeds. The books contain the works of the Roman poet Ovid and were printed by Stephanus Coralllus in Parma in 1477.

J. Alexander Symington

J. Alexander Symington is associated with three incunabula (books printed in Europe before 1501) kept in Special Collections in the Brotherton Library at the University of Leeds. The books contain the works of the Roman poet Ovid and were printed by Stephanus Coralllus in Parma in 1477.

Ovid the poet

The works of Ovid

Notes on the works of Ovid. Part of a digital resource on three incunabula (books printed in Europe before 1501) kept in Special Collections in the Brotherton Library at the University of Leeds. The books contain the works of the Roman poet Ovid and were printed by Stephanus Coralllus in Parma in 1477.

Medieval and Renaissance reception

Part of a digital resource on three incunabula (books printed in Europe before 1501) kept in Special Collections in the Brotherton Library at the University of Leeds. The books contain the works of the Roman poet Ovid and were printed by Stephanus Coralllus in Parma in 1477. Learn more about the reception of Ovid's works in the medieval and Renaissance periods.

The annotations

Heroides

Amores

Art of Love and Cures for Love

Fasti

Brotherton Ovid drawings - Callisto and Arcas

The drawings

Notes on the visual marginalia in three incunabula (books printed in Europe before 1501) kept in Special Collections in the Brotherton Library at the University of Leeds. The books contain the works of the Roman poet Ovid and were printed by Stephanus Coralllus in Parma in 1477. Discover more about the drawings that accompany the printed text.

List of illustrations to the Fasti

[Opera] Volume 1

View a high-resolution digitised version of the first volume of Ovid's Opera, held in Special Collections at Leeds University Library.

[Opera] Volume 2

View a high-resolution digitised version of the first volume of Ovid's Opera, held in Special Collections at Leeds University Library.

[Opera] Volume 3

View a high-resolution digitised version of the first volume of Ovid's Opera, held in Special Collections at Leeds University Library.

Unlike the lightly annotated Heroides and Amores, the Art of Love and Cures for Love attract the reader's sustained interest and the margins are heavily annotated.

The poems teach and exemplify persuasive techniques:

Annotations mark instances of arguments "from examples", "from similarity" and "from experience". They highlight poetic tropes and figures ("apostrophe", etc), as well as proverbial sayings ("Cretans are liars").

They mark passages of historical, geographical and mythological interest and draw attention to fine passages ("an elegant description"; "an elegant beginning"), presumably for the purposes of imitation.

These notes are typical of how Renaissance readers learned to analyse the texts they read in school.

The reader’s search for useful pieces of advice from Ovid "the teacher of love" (praeceptor amoris) is also apparent in his Art of Love annotations. In addition to annotations similar to those above, notes here show him marking the dos and don'ts of successful lovemaking with phrases like "a precept to be noted" ("praeceptum notandum") or "an excellent lesson" ("optima doctrina").

He shows interest in Ovid's description of a method for invisible writing by marking it with a "manicule" (a pointing hand) and the word "Secretum". As had been evident in the annotations on the Phaedra letter in the Heroides, this reader is interested in the language of seduction.

He's also interested in relating Ovid's characterisations of women of ancient Rome to women of his own time. For example, Ovid directs the Roman reader to the Porticos to find women to seduce (1.67-8) and our reader writes: "Even today, in Italy, the colonnades are always crowded with women". In book 3, Ovid mentions the hair-care regimes of Roman women (3.163-6); our reader observes: "this behaviour is still today common with Italian women".

The Art of Love was not a text favoured in the Renaissance classroom, and attracted moral censure while the Cures for Love tended to be viewed as a more suitable text yet the annotator seems quite unconcerned about these morality issues.

Later, in the Cures for love, the annotations take on a more moralising tone, highlighting a "sententia vere christiana", (truly Christian sentiment), where Ovid writes: "A profitable aim it is to extinguish savage flames, and have a heart not enslaved to its own frailty" (53-4).

Dr Paul White