DALE (Anthony van). De Oraculis Veterum Ethnicorum dissertationes duæ, Quarum nunc prior agit de eorum Origine atque Auctoribus, secunda de ipsorum Duratione & Interitu. Amsterdam : Henri and widow of Theodore Boom, 1700. - In-8, (12 ff.), 694 pp, (7 ff.), 8 plates. Stiff vellum, boards decorated with a double frame of two cold fillets, fleuron at the corners and cold plate in the centre of the boards, spine ribbed, spotted edges (period binding). Second edition of this treatise on miracles composed by the Dutch historian, physician, antiquarian and philosopher Anthony van Dale (1638-1708). The author wanted through this book to enlighten the men and women of his time on the beliefs, and to prove that the devil never caused any oracle and that the latter is only the fruit of the tricks of the priests to maintain the superstition. This is what Voltaire said about it: "Van-Dale's book is perhaps not very methodical; but it is one of the most curious that has ever been done. For from the crude tricks of the so-called Hystaspe and the sibyls; from the apocryphal story of Simon Barjoue's journey to Rome, and the compliments that Simon the magician sent him by his dog; from the miracles of Saint Gregory the Thaumaturgist, and especially the letter that this saint wrote to the devil, and which was brought to his address, to the miracles of the reverend Jesuit and Capuchin fathers, nothing is forgotten. The empire of imposture and stupidity is revealed in this book to the eyes of all men who know how to read. (Voltaire, Philosophical Dictionary, article "Oracle"). This edition is the second and succeeds that of 1683. Enlarged and corrected, it is illustrated with 12 folding plates, 11 of which are numbered from 1 to 11, accompanied by a printed caption, and 1 without number which represents the ruins of the temple of Hercules at Tibur. These plates, perfectly engraved, are not signed but are usually attributed to the Dutch painter and engraver Romain de Hooghe (1645-1708). They are the same as those found in the 1683 edition, except that this second edition does not include a frontispiece. This work was adapted in 1686 by Fontenelle in a book entitled Histoire des oracles. A fine copy in contemporary binding, despite the renewed endpapers and linings.