Theocritus, Theocriti Eclogae triginta, Venice, Aldo Manuzio, February 1495/1496; bound with Dioscorides, De Materia Medica, Venice: Aldo Manuzio, after 8 July 1499, contemporary limp vellum

Theocritus. Idyllia [Greek]. Add: Theognis; Dionysius Cato: Disticha (trans. into Greek: Maximus Planudes); Sententiae Septem sapientium; De invidia; Hesiodus: Opera et dies, Theogonia [Greek]. With table and colophon in Latin. Venice: Aldo Manuzio, February 1495/1496

[Bound with:] Dioscorides. De materia medica [Greek]. Add: Pseudo- Dioscorides: De venenis, De venenatis animalibus [Greek]; Nicander: Theriaca; Alexipharmaca; Scholia [Greek]. Venice: Aldo Manuzio, after 8 July 1499

A pair of Aldine incunables from the library of Andrew Fletcher (1655–1716) of Saltoun, Scottish patriot, writer, politician, and book collector. Fletcher formed the largest and finest private library in Scotland at the turn of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries; an extension of Saltoun Hall in East Lothian was designed in 1779 specifically to house his books.

Editio princeps of Dioscorides, the pharmacological text containing descriptions of some six hundred plants and their medicinal properties, which was later adapted by Mattioli in the mid-sixteenth century to become a popular illustrated herbal. De materia medica was the first work written about medical botany and was a major early source for the science of pharmacy "until well into the seventeenth century … all botanical studies were based on this book, and the greater part of any new botanical matter published during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries was in the form of a commentary on Dioscorides" (Printing and the Mind of Man). 

This text—unusual among Aldo's early Greek productions in not being a work of literature—was issued together with two works by Nicander and the scholia on them, which are not present in this volume, as not infrequently. 

The Discorides is bound after the first edition, first issue, of Aldo's compilation of Theocritus and other Greek poets, including several editiones principes.

Two works in one volumes, Super-chancery folio (313 x 211 mm). Theocritus: Greek type, with some Roman, 30 lines plus headline. collation: Α.Α–Δ.D⁸ Ε.E–Θ.G⁶ ZZ.ζζ¹⁰ AA.αα–ΔΔ.δδ⁸ ΕΕ.εε⁶ α.a–β.b⁸ γ.c¹⁰ δ.d–ε.e⁸: 140 leaves (quire ΖΖ.ζζ bound before ΑΑ.αα). Woodcut strapwork initials (one partially handcolored) and headpieces, some floriated. Dioscorides: Greek type, with some Roman, 40 lines plus headline. collation: *⁶ α-ο⁸ π¹⁰: 136 (of 174) leaves (lacking Α1–Δ8, Ε1–6 at end: i.e., Nicander, Theriaca, Alexipharmaca, and the Scholia on those works; π10 blank). Five- to seven-line initial spaces with guide letters, a few neat early annotations in Latin and Greek. (Dampstain at top margin throughout often intruding on first line or two of text and resulting in some very minor fraying to last few leaves of Dioscorides, some inkstains to final leaf of Theocritus, title-page of Dioscorides lightly soiled and with repaired tear at fore-edge.)

binding: Contemporary Italian (?; possibly Spanish) limp vellum (318 x 220 mm), front cover annotated in ink, "Varior. auctor. diversa opera Graeca," flat spine ink-lettered with title reading down, "Varior[um]: Auctor[um]: Divers[orum]: Op[er]a Graeca," remnants of two pairs of chamois ties, five double thongs penetrating covers at hinges. (Dampstained and lightly soiled, inner hinges opening but binding secure.)

provenance: Unidentified owner, sixteenth-century annotations in Greek — Andrew Fletcher (1655–1716), of Saltoun, signature "AFletcher" at head of title-page of each work; Andrew Fletcher's "definitive catalogue" (National Library of Scotland, Saltoun Papers, Ms. 17863), p. 54 line 7 (Theocritus) and p. 58 line 7 (Dioscorides) — probably Capt. Andrew Mansel Talbot Fletcher (1880–1951) (?) — William H. Robinson, London — Sotheby's London, 28–29 November 1977, lot 5170 [but a Robinson book, not Phillipps]; purchased by — Alan G. Thomas, London (£900) — Sotheby's London, 28 May 2015, lot 80 (£77,500). acquisition: Purchased at Sotheby's via Halwas. references: (Theocritus) UCLA 7; Aldo Manuzio tipografo 7; BMC V 554 (IB 24402), V 555 (IB 24408); Goff T144; Grolier/Aldus 10; GW M45831; ISTC it00144000; Renouard 5/3 (Dioscorides) UCLA 31; Aldo Manuzio tipografo 33; BMC V 560 (IB 24488); Goff D260; GW 8435; ISTC id00260000; Printing and the Mind of Man 20 note; Renouard 21/4; See P. J. M. Willems, Bibliotheca Fletcheriana: Or, The Extraordinary Library of Andrew Fletcher of Saltoun, Reconstructed and Systematically Arranged [Wassenaar, Netherlands: Privately Printed, 1999], pp. 76, 217