SENECA Lucius Annaeus Tragoediae.

Renouard, Alde, 80:4; Ahmanson-Murphy, 155; Adams, S-903.

The only Aldine edition of Seneca’s tragedies.

Copy in its first state with the error in the title. It was given by Girolamo Avanzi and Latino Giovenale, apostolic protonotary. Avanzi, from Verona, was a professor of philosophy at Padua and a member of the Aldine Academy. He was responsible for the 1500 edition of Lucretius.

Exceptional binding

This copy has an exceptional binding, probably Venetian, made from citron morocco leather known as “de turquie”. These bindings are distinguished by a stenciled decoration with floral motifs. This type of binding was particularly appreciated by the great collector Jacques Auguste de Thou, who had others made with his coat of arms at the beginning of the 17th century (see Esmérian, I, 115 & 113).

The decoration on this binding is similar to that featured in the Gumuchian catalogue (Bindings from the 15th to the 19th century, numbers 70 & 71).

Provenance: Congregation of Peace (17th century Italian inscription on the flyleaf and on the title).