LOEHNEYSEN (or LOEHNEYSS), Georg Engelhard von

Bericht von Bergkwerk, wie man dieselben bawen und in guten wolfstande bringen sol

      Engraved title & 16 folding engraved plates. Printed tables in the text. 11 p.l., 343 pp. Folio, cont. vellum over boards (binding a bit stained, minor browning). N.p.: n.d. [Hamburg: ca. 1660].p Second edition (1st ed.: 1617) and a very nice copy of this classic of mining and assaying; it is a treatise on the technical as well as the economic and administrative aspects of mining and metallurgy. It ranks !in importance with the works of Biringuccio, Agricola, and Ercker.!!Neville, II, p. 88!(describing the 1617 second issue). Lohneysen (1552-1625?), a nobleman at the court of the Elector Augustus of Saxony, was inspector general of the mines of Zellerfeld, Clausthal, and Andreasberg. He was an expert in mining, metallurgy, and geology. The first edition, printed at the author!s own press in Zellerfeld is very rare as most copies were destroyed during the Thirty Years War. Lohneysen designed the plates, woodcuts, and initials, employing Moses Thym as engraver of the cuts. The present second edition is a reprint of the first edition, second issue, with engravings by Joachim Wichman replacing Lohneysen!s woodcuts. The edition was not known to Ferguson or Duveen; however, it is cited by Prandtl, !Die erste Ausgabe von Lohneysz! Bericht vom Bergwerck,! in Zeitschrift Bucherfreunde 39 (1935), pp. 20-22. Two other editions with Wichman!s engravings were published in 1690. The text is celebrated for its explanation of mining regulations and for a description of the extraction of zinc (the first to be printed). Very good copy in a contemporary binding. ❧ Darmstaedter, Berg-, Probir- und Kunstbuchlein, pp. 98-99. D.S.B., VIII, pp. 464-65. Ferguson, II, pp. 42-43!(later ed. only). Partington, II, p.107. This edition not in Hoover.. First Edition. Hard cover.