Theocritus, Idyllia [and other works], Venice, Aldus, 1495, nineteenth-century calf, Askew-British Museum copy

Theocritus

Ειδυλλια; Theognis; Dionysius Cato: Disticha [translated into Greek by Maximus Planudes]; Sententiae Septem sapientium; De invidia; Hesiodus: Opera et dies, Theogonia. Venice: Aldus, February 1495/96

Super-Chancery folio (295 x 202mm.), 140 leaves, A.A-Δ.D⁸ E.E.-Θ.G.⁶; AA.αα-ΔΔ.δδ⁸ ΕΕ.εε⁶ ΖΖ.ζζ¹⁰; α.a-β.b⁸ γ.c¹⁰; δ.d-ε.e⁸, quire ΖΖ.ζζ bound after quire Θ.G., 30 lines, Greek type, woodcut initials and headpieces, late nineteenth-century English calf gilt with the arms of Thomas-Stanford, gilt edges, in modern morocco-backed slipcase, first leaf slightly foxed and with a small hole, a few small wormholes, a few annotations washed (those on final verso covered in white)

Second edition of Theocritus, accompanied by Hesiod's Works and days, Shield of Hercules and Theogony, together with the Distichs of Theognis and other smaller Greek works. Theocritus's Idylls had been previously issued in Milan in 1480 by Bonus Accursius, but this volume contains the editio princeps of Hesiod's Theogonia. Aldus dedicates his edition to Battista Guarino, who had taught him in Ferrara.

First issue, with Θ.G.6v blank, and the incorrect text on Z.F5 (see BMC); lot 230 is another copy of Theocritus with the correct and complete text.

Please note that this lot has already been granted an export licence by the Italian authorities.

LITERATURE:

Aldo Manuzio tipografo 7; ISTC it00144000; Renouard 5/3; UCLA 7

PROVENANCE:

Dr Anthony Askew, sale, Baker & Leigh, 6 March 1775, lot 3348 ("exemplar pulcherrimum"), £2-5-0; British Museum, oval red stamp and duplicate stamp from 1804, sale of duplicates, Leigh and Sotheby, 20 February 1805, lot 842; Charles Thomas-Stanford (1858-1932, the bibliographer of Euclid), armorial bookplate and his bibliographical notes in pencil on inside front cover; Francis Kettaneh, morocco booklabel, sale, Paris, 20 May 1980, lot 86