Ovid’s Metamorphoses

As 'Englished' by Arthur Golding in 1567

ESTIMATED PUBLICATION DATE:
stay tuned

Beyond all of our other forthcoming titles there looms, tantalizingly, our very long-planned edition of Ovid’s Metamorphoses in the 1567 ‘Englishing’ of Arthur Golding, with engravings by Peter Lazarov, about which we – and Peter – are very excited. If all goes as planned, this will be another major work, probably in two volumes. The text is fascinating, written in high style in ‘fourteeners’ – that is, rhyming couplets of heptameter, a favourite largely pre-Shakespearean meter. As fourteeners are difficult for a modern reader to sound out without galumphing, we will provide a note on ‘Reading Golding’ which will, we hope, ease the unfamiliar readers into an easier reading of the text, and we are considering including a recording of some of the better-known passages read by professional actors. The book will include an introduction about Arthur Golding, the text of his ‘Englishing’, and its history.

We have ongoing conversations with Peter Lazarov about the illustrations, and anticipate extraordinary results. All of which said, we must point out that we are both of ‘a certain age’ (even perhaps a little past it), and this is a huge project. We trust that determination and the joy of the work will see it through . . . and even, perhaps, other works to follow.