HAEFTEN (Benoît van). Regia via crucis. Antwerp, Officina Plantiniana, Balthasar Moretus, 1635. In-8, fawn calf, gilt fillet and fleurons in the corners, oval medallion in the centre with the figure IHS on the first plate and MAR on the second, smooth mute spine decorated with a fillet frame and three fleurons, spotted edges (Binding of the period). Very rare first edition of this book of emblems dedicated to the representation of the Cross. It is illustrated with a title-frontispiece after Peter Paul Rubens and 38 full-page figures engraved by Cornelis Galle. The work, divided into three books, features unusual and hijacked images of the Cross: the artist skilfully and inventively depicts it disguised as a crossbow (p. 220), a harp (p. 228), a blacksmith's hammer (p. 344), and so on. A fine copy in a curious contemporary binding. Upper spine restored. Handwritten bookplates from the 17th and 18th centuries partially crossed out on the false title and in the margins of the frontispiece.