The second, much enlarged edition by the Dutch classical scholar Jacobus Gronovius of the first extensive repertory of Greco-Roman rings with intaglio-carved gems by Abraham Gorlaeus (Van Goorle; 1549-1608), which Gorlaeus had published in 1601 with the title Dactiliotheca seu annulorum sigillarium quorum apud priscos tam Graecos quam Romanos usos (1601) as a catalogue of engraved gems in his cabinet of curiosities.
The present edition is also remarkable as one of the earliest books too incorporate - at the end of vol. 2, pp. 1-32 - a medieval treatise on precious stones by Marbodi, the bishop of Rennes (ca. 1035-1123): Marbodaei Galli Poetae vetusti, Carmen de gemmis sive lapidibus pretiosis. The poem is written in exquisite Latin metre and each of the 63 sections is devoted to a single gem, explaining its formation, appearance, etymology, exotic origins, medical properties and preparations. In his prologue Marbodi says it is partly based on a work on the subject by the first century Arabian King, Evax, addressed to Emperor Tiberius.
With three inserted pages with titles in German translation, written by a 19th-century hand, and one leaf inserted with 43 tracings of rings, etc. from the book, also in a 19th-century hand-writing. Bindings a little dust-soiled, otherwise in very good condition. Brunet II, 1671; Ebert, 8711; Kockel-Graepler, Daktyliotheken (Kat. 2006), pp. 111-112; Simoni G126; Sinkankas 2470; Ter Meulen & Diermanse 247; STCN (5 copies, incl. 2 incomplete); Vinet, 1609; cf. Ciconara 2871; J. G. van Gelder, "Notes on the royal collection - IV: the 'Dutch gift' of 1610 to Henry, Prince of Wales'...", in: The Burlington Magazine, 105 (December 1963), pp. 541-545; David Jaffé, "Aspects of gem collecting in the early seventeenth century, Nicolas-Claude Peiresc and Lelio Pasqualini", in: The Burlington magazine, 135 (February 1993), pp. 103-120; Sinkankas 2472; P. & H. Zazoff, Gemmensammler, pp. 31-34; for the author: NNBW, 5 (1921), cols. 209-210.