3 - Gallaeus, Servatius

Gallaeus, Servatius Sibylline Oracles. Emended and restored from ancient manuscripts, and illustrated with commentaries by various authors... Also included are the Oracles of Mary, Zoroaster, Jupiter, Apollo, etc... With an engraved title page. Amstelodami Amsterdam, published by Henricus and the widow of Theodorus Boom, 1689 (not 1669). Large 8°. 13 leaves, 791 pp., 13 leaves, 127 pp. Contemporary half-leather binding with gilt lettering (gilt lettering partially scraped off). Jöcher II, 837. - Bibliotheca Magica, Rosenthal, 1490. - Graesse VI, 398. - Ebert II, 173: “New edition based on a manuscript in the possession of Oxford Professor Ed. Bernard, and a careful compilation of the existing exegetical apparatus.” Latin and Greek text. This anonymous collection of ancient prophecies primarily consists of apocalypses, visions of doom, sermons on repentance, scenes of terror, miracles, and omens, etc. The edition prepared by the Walloon theologian and philologist Servatius Gallaeus (Servaes Galle, 1627–1689) is the authoritative scholarly edition of the ancient Sibylline Oracles (Books 1–8) from the 17th century. Gallaeus drew upon older manuscripts as well as the preliminary work of Opsopoeus (Paris 1599) and supplemented the Greek-Latin text with commentaries from several generations of scholars. Of particular interest to collectors is the appendix: the *Oracula magica* attributed to Zoroaster, Jupiter, and Apollo, as well as the *Oneirocriticon* by Astrampsychus, a late antique book on dream interpretation and divination—texts that make this edition particularly sought-after by collectors of occult and divinatory literature. The edition was published by the Amsterdam publishing house Boom, which in the same year (1688) also published Gallaeus’s richly illustrated “Dissertationes de Sibyllis, earumque Oraculis”—a standalone companion volume illustrated with fourteen copperplate engravings (twelve depictions of the Sibyls and a folded portrait of the author) by Romeyn de Hooghe. Both titles are occasionally offered together on the market, but are bibliographically distinct works; the engraved title page of the text edition described here follows the stylistic tradition of the publishing house’s de Hooghe prints—first and last leaves with wormholes visible beneath the paper; otherwise a good, clean copy. The anonymous collection of ancient prophecies deals for the most part with apocalypses, visions of doom, penitential sermons, images of terror, and miracles and portents. The edition prepared by the Walloon theologian and philologist Servatius Gallaeus (Servaes Galle, 1627–1689) is the authoritative scholarly edition of the ancient Sibylline Oracles (Books 1–8) from the seventeenth century. Gallaeus drew on older manuscripts as well as on the preparatory work of Opsopoeus (Paris, 1599) and supplemented the Greek-Latin text with commentaries by several generations of scholars. Of particular interest to collectors is the appendix: the *Oracula magica* attributed to Zoroaster, Jupiter, and Apollo, together with the *Oneirocriticon* of Astrampsychus, a late-antique manual on dream interpretation and divination—texts that make this edition especially sought after by collectors of occultism and divinatory literature. The edition was published by the Amsterdam printing house of Boom, which in the same period (1688) also published Gallaeus’s richly illustrated *Dissertationes de Sibyllis, earumque Oraculis* —an independent companion volume featuring fourteen copper-engraved plates (twelve depictions of the Sibyls, along with a folding portrait of the author) by Romeyn de Hooghe. Although both titles are occasionally sold together on the market, they are bibliographically distinct works; the engraved title page of the text edition described here follows the stylistic tradition of de Hooghe’s engravings for the publishing house. The first and last leaves have wormholes that have been patched; otherwise, this is a fine, clean copy.