AGRICOLA, Georgius.

De Re Metallica Libri XII. Quibus Officia, Instrumenta, Machinae, ac omnia denique ad Metallicam spectantia, non modo luculentissimè describuntur, sed & per effigies, suis locis insertas, adjunctis Latinis, Germanicisque appellationibus ita ob oculos ponuntur, ut clarius tradi non possint. Eiusdem de Animantibus Subterraneis Liber, ab Autore recognitus: cum Indicibus diversis… Basileae [Basel: In officina Frobeniana, per Hier. Frobenium et Nic. Episcopium], . 1561.

Price £ GBP 5800.00

Folio, 6 leaves (including the blank 6th leaf), 502 pages, 37 leaves, and 2 woodcut plates (1 folding, both slightly shaved at the fore-edge, as often). Froben’s woodcut device on title and on verso of last leaf, and about 270 splendid woodcuts (many full-page) in the text. Several small wormholes in the first and last two leaves, first gathering faintly dampstained, a few gatherings lightly browned, otherwise an excellent copy. Modern vellum from an old antiphonal (inner hinges slightly loose).

Second Latin edition, corrected, of “the first systematic treatise on mining and metallurgy and one of the first technological books of modern times… The De Re Metallica embraces everything connected with the mining industry and metallurgical processes, including administration, prospecting, the duties of officials and companies and the manufacture of glass, sulphur and alum. The magnificent series of two hundred and seventy-three large woodcut illustrations by Hans Rudolf Manuel Deutsch add to its value. Some of the most important sections are those on mechanical engineering and the use of water-power, hauling, pumps, ventilation, blowing of furnaces, transport of ores, etc., showing a very elaborate technique” (Printing & the Mind of Man). This second edition is almost a page-for-page reprint of the first, but is typographically superior and is printed on heavier paper. The woodcuts are the same as those in the first edition. DSB, I, pp. 77–79. Neville I, p. 17. Partington II, pp. 46–55. Hoover 18. See Printing & the Mind of Man 79; Dibner, Heralds of Science, 88; Horblit 2b; and Sparrow, Milestones of Science, p. 8 and plate 26 for the first edition of 1556.

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