The Love Books of Ovid is a compilation of four books of the Roman poet’s verse translated into prose by Julian Lewis May. The Bosschère-illustrated Bodley Head volume includes ‘Amores’ (The Loves), ‘Ars Amatoria’ (The Art of Love), ‘Remedia Amoris’ (Love’s Cure), and ‘Medicamina Faciei Feminae’ (The Art of Female Beauty). Ovid never intended his poems to be taken very seriously, and his advice to young men and women about how to find a satisfactory lover is as tongue-in-cheek and impractical as much sexual advice today.

Ovid’s varied subjects gave Bosschère plenty of material to illustrate. Of the twenty-four illustrations, eight are in black and white, eight in colour, and eight in an interesting ochre pallette unique to this volume.

The Bodley Head edition of Ovid was published in a limited numbered edition of 3,000 copies.