AGRICOLA (Georges). DE RE METALLICA LIBRI XII. Quibus offici - Lot 121

AGRICOLA (Georges). DE RE METALLICA LIBRI XII. Quibus officia, instrumenta, machinæ, ac omnia denique ad mettalicam spectantia... Ejusdem De Animantibus subterraneis liber... Basel, Emanuelis König, 1657. In folio of [14]-708-[58]-2bl.-[32] pages and 2 plates out of text, ivory stiff vellum, smooth spine (period binding). The most complete edition of this famous book describing how to extract and treat metals. It is THE CLASSIC REFERENCE TREATY on mining and metallurgy. Georges Agricola (1494-1555), who spent much of his life among the miners of Joachimsthal in Germany (now famous for its silver and uranium mines), is the pioneer of mineralogical science; here he describes, among other things, how to extract gold from sand, how to prepare saltpetre and various hydraulic processes. This handsome book is illustrated with 273 woodcuts, including 2 hors-texte plates, one of them folding, partly by Hans Rudolf Manuel Deutsch. A good copy in its original binding. (Printing n°79, ed. 1556) (Durling n°53) (Brunet I, 113).