Lucii Anaei Senecae Cordubensis
Subtitle: Hercules furens tragedia prima incipit
Publisher: Andrea Belfortis
Published: 1478
Place of publication: Ferrara
Language: lat
Number of pages: 174
Other titles: Lvcii Anaei Senecae Cordvbensis Hercvles fvrens tragedia prima incipit; Hercules furens; Octavia (Praetexta)
Work titles: Tragedies
Notes: Title from incipit to first play (leaf a1r).

Place of publication and date from ISTC; printer from colophon.

Verse colophon (leaf u6v): Longa iterum Senecae tribuisti saecula: regum / Cum premis Andrea gallice mortis opus. / Hercule sunt formis impraessa uolumina rege / Victor ab adriacis cum redit ille feris:

Dated to 1484 by BM 15th cent. on the basis of the historical event (presumed to be the Peace of Bagnolo, concluded in September 1484) alluded to in the colophon. Documentary evidence, however, shows that Belfort printed 500 copies of the book in partnership with the bookseller Pellegrino Sillano; the partnership was formed on 30 September 1478 and dissolved on 17 December. Cf. ISTC.

First edition.

Signatures: a-b¹⁰ d⁸ dd¹⁰ e⁸ f-h¹⁰ i-k⁸ ℓ¹⁰ m-n⁸ o¹⁰ p⁸ q¹⁰ r-t⁸ u⁶.

The signatures are hand-stamped on rectos, either at the lower outer corner (quires a-m, sheets n1-3), or immediately below the last line of text (sheet n4, quires o-u).

The play Octavia is wrongly ascribed to Seneca; the true author is not known.

Initial spaces, most with guide-letters.

Hain-Copinger-Reichling, 14662.

Proctor, 5731.

Goff, S-433.

BM 15th cent., VI, 603 (IB.25621).

ISTC (CD-ROM, 1998 ed.), is00433000.

Walsh, J.E. 15th cent. printed books, 2765.
Table of contents: title: Hercules furens; title: Thyestes; title: Thebais; title: Hippolytus; title: Oedipus; title: Troades; title: Medea; title: Agamemnon; title: Octavia; title: Hercules oetaeus.