VIEW 02

Sale 2291 Lot 115

THEOCRITUS; et al. [Idyllia] [and other texts]. Greek text, edited by Aldus Manutius. Woodcut decorated initials and floral or strapwork headpieces, illuminated throughout in colors and gold in a contemporary hand. [140] leaves. Folio, 315x210 mm, early 18th-century mottled calf, spine in 7 compartments with citron morocco lettering piece in one and ornamental tooling in the rest; title soiled, shaved along fore edge, extensive marginalia in Greek and Latin; gilt edges, gauffered to all-over pattern of intersecting diagonal fillets and fleurons. Bookplate of St. Benedict's Abbey, Fort Augustus, Scotland. (Venice: Aldus Manutius, February 1495/96)
Estimate $40,000-60,000

first aldine and first complete edition of the idylls of theocritus, of which 12 appear here for the first time, also including the first edition in the original greek of Hesiod's Theogony and Shield of Hercules and the elegies of Theognis, as well as the second edition of 18 Theocritean Idylls and Hesiod's Works and Days, which were first printed in Milan circa 1480. first state of gatherings Z.F and [theta].G, with the text uncorrected. Renouard, page 5(3); New UCLA 7; Hoffmann III, 473-74; HC 15477*; BMC V, 554-55; Goff T144; ISTC it00144000. handsome copy, with contemporary hand-coloring.