Item #114092 De Re Metallica. Translated from the First Latin Edition of 1556 with Biographical Introduction, Annotations and Appendices upon the Development of Mining Methods, Metallurgical Processes, Geology, Mineralogy & Mining Law from the Earliest Times to the 16th Century by Herbert Clark Hoover and Lou Henry Hoover. Georgius AGRICOLA.
De Re Metallica. Translated from the First Latin Edition of 1556 with Biographical Introduction, Annotations and Appendices upon the Development of Mining Methods, Metallurgical Processes, Geology, Mineralogy & Mining Law from the Earliest Times to the 16th Century by Herbert Clark Hoover and Lou Henry Hoover
De Re Metallica. Translated from the First Latin Edition of 1556 with Biographical Introduction, Annotations and Appendices upon the Development of Mining Methods, Metallurgical Processes, Geology, Mineralogy & Mining Law from the Earliest Times to the 16th Century by Herbert Clark Hoover and Lou Henry Hoover
De Re Metallica. Translated from the First Latin Edition of 1556 with Biographical Introduction, Annotations and Appendices upon the Development of Mining Methods, Metallurgical Processes, Geology, Mineralogy & Mining Law from the Earliest Times to the 16th Century by Herbert Clark Hoover and Lou Henry Hoover
De Re Metallica. Translated from the First Latin Edition of 1556 with Biographical Introduction, Annotations and Appendices upon the Development of Mining Methods, Metallurgical Processes, Geology, Mineralogy & Mining Law from the Earliest Times to the 16th Century by Herbert Clark Hoover and Lou Henry Hoover
De Re Metallica. Translated from the First Latin Edition of 1556 with Biographical Introduction, Annotations and Appendices upon the Development of Mining Methods, Metallurgical Processes, Geology, Mineralogy & Mining Law from the Earliest Times to the 16th Century by Herbert Clark Hoover and Lou Henry Hoover
De Re Metallica. Translated from the First Latin Edition of 1556 with Biographical Introduction, Annotations and Appendices upon the Development of Mining Methods, Metallurgical Processes, Geology, Mineralogy & Mining Law from the Earliest Times to the 16th Century by Herbert Clark Hoover and Lou Henry Hoover

De Re Metallica. Translated from the First Latin Edition of 1556 with Biographical Introduction, Annotations and Appendices upon the Development of Mining Methods, Metallurgical Processes, Geology, Mineralogy & Mining Law from the Earliest Times to the 16th Century by Herbert Clark Hoover and Lou Henry Hoover

London, 'Published for the Translators by The Mining Magazine', 1912.

Folio, [iv], xxxii, 640, [1] (colophon) pages with approximately 270 illustrations (and a facsimile of the original title page) plus a folding page of illustrations.

Original full vellum lettered and decorated in black on the spine; top edge uncut and almost entirely unopened; boards very slightly bowed; vellum a little foxed and marked, with minor silverfish loss to the top edge of the rear board; top edge a little foxed and dusty; a very good copy (internally excellent).

The first edition 'of Agricola's "De Re Metallica" (On Metals), illustrated with over 270 woodcuts, embraced everything connected with Renaissance mining and metallurgical industries, including administration, the duties of companies and workers, prospecting, mechanical engineering, ore processing and the manufacture of glass, sulfur and alum. Book VI provided detailed descriptions of sixteenth-century mining technologies, such as the use of water-power for crushing ore and the improvements in suction pumps and ventilation that became necessary as mine shafts were sunk deeper underground; it also includes an account of the diseases and accidents prevalent among miners, along with the means of preventing them. It is thus a pioneering work in occupational medicine. "De Re Metallica" remained the standard textbook on mining and metallurgy for over two hundred years..... In 1912 American mining engineer and industrialist, and later 31st President of the United States [1929-33], Herbert Clark Hoover [1874-1964] and his wife Lou Henry Hoover issued a semi-facsimile edition and translation, with "Biographical Introduction, Annotations and Appendices upon the Development of Mining Methods, Metallurgical Processes, Geology, Mineralogy & Mining Law from the earliest times to the 16th century ... The work, which remains definitive, was published in the same format as the first (1556) edition ... Mrs. Hoover, a former Latin teacher, was responsible for the translation' (Norman: HistoryofInformation.com). Norman also cites a summary report of 28 March 1914 'stating that Hoover had received 509 copies of the translation, 31 copies had been sent for review, 814 had been sold and 122 remained in the hands of the booksellers. This gives a total of 1,476 copies printed, a figure more plausible than Hoover's later claim of 3,000 copies (Memoirs I, pp. 117-119)'. The flyleaf of this copy is inscribed and signed 'To W.H. Starins[?] With Compliments of H.C. Hoover'; the number 334 is stamped below it. Tipped in on the pastedown is a short typed letter signed 'Herbert Hoover', on his personal stationery, from Stanford University, 8 August 1927: 'I have forgotten the exact number. My impression is that it was 1500'. The bookplate of the recipient, Thomas Wayne Norris, is mounted above it. Loosely inserted are two 1928 snapshots of Hoover (handwritten captions on the verso give precise dates and locations), and two large magazine tearsheets relating to him.

Item #114092

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