GOORLE, ABRAHAM VAN.

Antverpiani Dactyliotheca seu Annulorum sigillarium quorum apud priscos tam Graecos quam Romanos usus e ferro, aere, argento & auro promptuarium.

(Delft, 1600).

4to. In contemporary half vellum with title in contemporary hand to spine. Annotations in ink to verso of front board. Previous owner's names in contemporary hand to title-page. Bookblock split between quire A and B, quire B partly detached. A few barely visible dampstains, internally generally nice and clean. (34), 16, (4), 174 pp. + 137 engraved plates (with illustrations numbered 1 - 196). Wanting the engraved frontispiece. 

First edition of the first extensive repertory of Greco-Roman intaglio gems and rings and ring designs and symbols. A braham van Goorle (Abraham Gorlaeus), 1549 – 1608, was a Dutch antiquary of Flemish origin. Gorlaeus was born in Antwerp but fled as a teenager with his brother David to the Dutch Republic. Goorle amassed one of the finest collection of rings which in 1609 was bought by Henry, Prince of Wales.
The present work was republished by Jakob Gronovius in 1695 as part of his “Thesaurus Graecarum antiquitatum”

Order-nr.: 63225