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; front board a little bowed; vellum discoloured and a little stained, with minor wear to the two front corners; vellum on the front joint split for most of its length, but the joint is firm; all edges uncut and a little tanned, with trifling chips to some of the proud sections; endpapers unevenly tanned; occasional signs of age and handling; overall, a very good copy.
A presentation copy, inscribed and signed on the front free endpaper 'To Charles Butters ... With Compliments of H.C. Hoover'; the number 420 is stamped below it. The recipient was Charles Butters (1854-1933), an influential American metallurgist, engineer and mine owner. This work is 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)'.
Item #146903
Price (AUD):
$1,100.00









