Michel Ange de la Chausse - Het Roomsch kabinet van Oudheden - 1731

First Dutch edition of this richly illustrated antiquarian work devoted to the religion, mythology, ceremonies and material culture of Ancient Rome.
The work discusses and illustrates a remarkable variety of Roman antiquities, including representations of gods and deities, priests and sacrificial implements, vessels, rings, keys, dice, writing implements, ancient lamps and funerary lamps.
Particularly noteworthy are the sections devoted to Priapus / Mutinus, with unusual and highly characteristic engravings relating to ancient Roman fertility symbolism.
The volume also contains the Verhandeling van de Eertekenen des Opperpriesters, des Priesters van Jupiter, des Wichelaers en het Gereetschap der Offerenden, as well as the Drie Verhandelingen van Michael Angelus de la Chausse, concerning ancient objects, representations of Mutinus and the bronze lamps of the ancients.
Illustrations:
The work originally contains 31 engraved plate leaves, often showing several individually numbered figures on a single plate.
30 of the 31 engraved plate leaves are present.
Only the first engraved plate leaf, containing figures I–IV, is lacking. All other engraved plate leaves are present, including the striking plates relating to Priapus and the numerous plates of Roman antiquities and ancient lamps.
The text runs through to the final page, p. 392, ending with the Verhandeling van de Graflampen der Ouden.
Condition:
An incomplete but remarkably substantial surviving copy. The general title page is lacking, as is the original binding. The bookblock retains its old sewing structure, but the binding is defective and partly loose; a few leaves are loose. The edges and outer leaves show wear, creasing and occasional small losses consistent with the present unbound condition. Please examine the photographs carefully.
The bookblock is preserved in a later simple protective portfolio/case with ribbon ties, which is included.
Despite the missing title page, one engraved plate leaf and the original binding, this remains an attractive and highly interesting copy, preserving 30 of the 31 engraved plates and the extensive text of this unusual early-18th-century work on classical antiquity.