Theocritus (fl. 3rd century BC).

Super-Chancery folio (322 x 212mm.), 140 leaves, 30 lines, Greek letter, illustration: woodcut initials and headpieces, binding: sixteenth-century french olive morocco gilt fanfare binding, linked quatrefoil and oval cartouches made from double gilt outlines with profuse azured leafy tendrils, flat spine similarly gilt, gilt edges, spine faded, some abrasions on sides

from the laubespine-villeroy library, with the inventory number 34. The recent discovery of a major French collector of the second half of the sixteenth century casts new light on the intellectual and stylistic milieu of the reign of Henri III.

Nicolas de Neuville de Villeroy (1543-1617) married in 1559 Madeleine de Laubespine, the daughter of Claude II de Laubespine, one of the four secretaries of state and conseiller of Catherine de Médicis. Claude II died in 1567 and was succeeded in office by his son-in-law. In the same year the couple had a son, Charles (d. 1642). In 1570 Claude III Laubespine, Madeleine's brother, died at the age of 25. It was he for whom these bindings were made.

Nicolas and Madeleine's favourite residence was the château at Conflans, apostrophised by Ronsard in the dedicatory sonnet to his Amours diverses (1584), "...ta belle librairie... car il sent aussi bon que font les orangers". J.-B. Masson, in 1619, described the library as containing 2,000 choice volumes.

Various books from Villeroy's library are known, such as a handsome calligraphic volume offered in 1574 as a New Year's present to Villeroy, Suite des oeuvres poétiques of Jean Vatel (Chantilly, Mus. Condé MS 532), and a manuscript of Philippe Desportes's Les amours (BnF MS Fr. 868) in a splendid binding decorated "au chiffre C". Madeleine, a poet herself (and described as a good one by Ronsard), was also known as Callianthe, and the initials "CM" are found on a small group of bindings: an Ariosto now at Harvard (Houghton WKR 12.4.11), a copy of Desportes's Premières oeuvres (1573) sold in the Luzarche sale in 1868 (no. 2244), and a calligraphic manuscript now in Lyon (Lyon BM MS 745).

Madeleine died in 1596 and her goods passed to her husband. The inventory known to survive did not list the books, but that section of the inventory has now been found and contains inventory numbers from 5 to 1481, not far off Masson's estimate. The inventory mark, written in pale brown ink is the clue, although, of course, given the date of death of Claude III and the date of the inventory which is much later, it is difficult to determine precisely who owned a particular volume. However one might suppose that this handsome Theocritus, and certain others similarly bound, may have been his. Madeleine's copy of Cardinal du Perron's speech at Ronsard's funeral is now in the Bibliothèque Mazarine (no. 20754), complete with inventory mark, and the Latin Xenophon (Geneva: Henri Estienne, 1561) in the Pierre Berès sale of 13 December 2006, lot 442, bears the inventory number 39, forming a pair with the Greek volume of the same edition now in the Getty Library at Wormsley. Other examples are the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili (1499) in the Esmérian sale, 1972, lot 19, and the Aldine Aristotle, lot 14 in the same sale (previously in the Harcourt and Abbey sales). The Pliny at Eton College Library, from the Storer bequest, has a similar binding (reproduced in Hobson, Les relieures à la fanfare, plate XVII), but because the endpapers were renewed, has no inventory number.

"Ni Grolier, ni Mahieu: Laubespine" is the title of Isabelle de Conihout's seminal article of 2004 and the discovery and patient documentation of this remarkable collection is her work, aided by Pascal Ract-Madoux. The account of the library given above is based on her published researches and personal communications.

H 15477; BMC v 554; Goff T144; Renouard 1495/3; Texas 3; UCLA 7
I. de Conihout, "Ni Grolier, ni Mahout: Laubespine" in Italique: poésie italienne de la Renaissance (Geneva: Droz, 2004), pp. 141-159; Ibid., "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

Condition is described in the main body of the cataloguing, where appropriate
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

a superb copy of the aldine theocritus in a french binding of c. 1570 from the laubespine-villeroy library.

This is the first issue of Aldus's edition, with the text on ZF5 recto in its uncorrected state. Aldus did not have access to the full text of this particular idyll at the time, so he filled the gap with lines from another one until he obtained the text of the missing lines, which he then added to create the second issue. This volume also contains the editiones principes of twelve of the Idylls, Hesiod's Theogony and Shield of Hercules; the rest of the Idylls of Theocritus and Hesiod's Works and days had been published previously in Milan by Bonus Accursius, c. 1480 (Goff T143).

Aldus's dedication (to Battista Guarino) provides some early biographical information, as he talks of learning Latin with Gaspare da Verona; this is presumed to be when Gaspare was teaching at La Sapienza in Rome in the years 1460-1473. Aldus also makes it clear that Battista Guarino had requested him to produce this edition for his students.