Theocritus, Theocriti Eclogae triginta, Venice, Aldo Manuzio, February 1495/1496, Parisian olive morocco fanfare binding, late 1560s, by the Mahieu Aesop Binder

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

A fine, tall copy of Aldo's anthology of Greek poets, including the editio princeps of twelve of Theocritus’s Idylls, Hesiod’sTheogony, Shield of Hercules (once attributed to Hesiod), as well as the first edition in Greek of Cato's Distichs. This is the first issue of Aldo's edition with the text on signatures Ζ.F and Θ.G uncorrected or expanded.

In a superb fanfare binding of the late 1560s by the Mahieu Aesop Binder for the French courtier Claude de Laubespine (1544–1570), the Theocritus is one of perhaps nineteen books in the Laubespine library from this binder. The research of Isabelle de Conihout and Pascal Ract-Madoux identified these books with the brown inventory number ("cote brune") as belonging to Claude to Laubespine and his sister Madeleine, who married Nicolas de Villeroy. This volume has the inventory number 435.

"Young, handsome, and highborn, Claude III de Laubespine lived in luxury after marrying an heiress and obtaining the favor of King Charles IX. His brilliant career at court was cut short in 1570, when he died at the age of 25. He left behind a splendid library, which was dispersed, and only recently have his books been identified and properly appreciated for their superb quality and fine bindings. Laubespine now ranks among the great collectors of the French Renaissance" (Morgan Library and Museum).

Super-chancery folio (319 x 215 mm). 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. Woodcut strapwork initials and headpieces, some floriated. (Title- and final page lightly soiled, a few scattered rust spots.)

binding: Parisian olive morocco (326 x 223 mm), late 1560s, fanfare design by the Mahieu Aesop Binder for Claude de Laubespine, covers richly gilt with linked quatrefoil and oval compartments made from double fillets containing azured stirrups and leafy tools in the quatrefoil compartments and open leaf and bud tools in the ovals, a lozenge formed by double fillets and filled with dots in center of all compartments, surrounded by tendrils with open and azured leaves and circular punch tool, smooth spine similarly gilt, red morocco gilt-lettered title label, plain endpapers, gilt edges. (A few minor scrapes, spine rubbed, especially at head, and lightly faded.) Green morocco folding-case with plexiglass front cover.

provenance: Claude III de Laubespine, marquis de Châteauneuf (1544–1570); his library inherited by — Madeleine de Laubespine-Villeroy (1546–1596), his sister; her library inherited by — Nicolas de Neufville de Villeroy (1543–1617), her husband, Château de Conflans-Charenton, ink inventory number (cote brune) "435" on front flyleaf added when library inventoried after Madeleine's death — Earls of Macclesfield, family library (Shirburn Castle), armorial blind stamp on first three leaves, North Library armorial bookplate with pressmark 73.I.9; Sotheby's London, The Library of the Earls of Macclesfield … Part Twelve, 2 October 2008, lot 4772; purchased by — Librairie Thomas-Scheler, Paris (£163,250). acquisition: Purchased from Librairie Thomas-Scheler, Paris, 2009. references: 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; for the binding: Isabelle de Conihout, Poetry & Patronage: The Laubespine-Villeroy Library Rediscovered (Morgan Library, 2020), number 4; Conihout, "À propos de la bibliothèque aux cotes brunes des Laubespine-Villeroy: les livres italiens chez les secrétaires du roi dans la seconde moitié du XVIe siècle," in Italique 7 (2004):137–159; Conihout, "La belle librairie de Nicolas de Villeroy à Conflans," in Henri III mécène des arts, des sciences et des lettres (Paris, 2006), pp. 317–329