Bergwerck Buch: darinnen nicht allein alle Empter, Instrument, Gezeug, und alles, so zu diesem Handel gehörig, mit Figuren vorgebildet und klarlich beschrieben: Sondern auch, wie ein rechtverständiger Bergmann seyn soll…

Basel: Verlegung Ludwig Königs, 1621. Hardcover. See Description. Small folio. Third German edition of Agricola’s most famous mining book ("De Re Metallica"). ff. iv, pp. ccccxci, [7]. Title page is printed in red and black and displays a vignette depicting an assayer working at a muffle furnace. 273 woodcut illustrations by Hans Rudolf Manuel Deutsch accompany the text, including two fold out plates. Many of the woodcuts are almost a full page in size. Bound in full period vellum with usual age-toning, soiling and wear. Ribbon ties are lacking. Two small areas of careful repair are visible on the inner front cover, near the joint. The bottom tail cap contains minor restoration. Interior pages show scattered foxing, browning and age-toning in varying degrees. A couple of minor carefully sealed marginal tears are present. A neatly sealed tear (6.5 cm) is located on the upper portion of the title page, difficult to notice at first glance; a name is written unobtrusively in an old hand on the lower corner of the title. The first 35 pages (including title) contain a spot of worming in the bottom margin. The final gatherings also contain several scattered tiny worm holes. Some minor early marginalia is found on p. xc; a short word is faintly underlined on p. cccxxxv. Additional Condition Notes: 1.) The title page is loose (only attached for about 8 cm). An index leaf and a blank leaf in the rear of the book are also partially loose. 2.) There are four smaller repairs on the title page verso. An un-repaired 3.5 cm tear (located about half way down from the top and 7 cm inwards from the outer edge) is also present but it is difficult to see in the photo. 3.) The second leaf contains some tearing on the outer margin edge. 4.) Blank end papers contain wear and splitting. Georgius Agricola (Gerog Bauer) (1494-1555) was a German physician who practiced medicine in the Bohemian mining district of Joachimsthal and then at Chemnitz in Saxony. He developed a strong interest in mining and mining technology which he studied on site. The first edition of his "De Re Metallica", was published posthumously (Basel, 1556, in Latin). The first German edition appeared in 1557. Cyril Stanley Smith and R.J. Forbes state that Agricola’s book "…is one of the great monuments of technology by reason of the comprehensiveness of its text and the detail and intelligibility of its numerous illustrations" [See Singer, Hist. of Technology III, p. 27]. The PMM catalogue states: "Agricola’s best-known work, ‘On Metals’, is the first systematic treatise on mining and metallurgy and one of the first technological books of modern times. …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." [Ferguson I, p. 9-10; Sotheran I, 5664; VD17 23: 646123A; PMM 79].