Lohneyss, Georg Engelhard von | Bericht von Bergwerk, first edition

Lohneyss, Georg Engelhard von

Bericht von Bergkwerk, wie man dieselben Bawen und in guten Wolfstandt bringen soll. Zellerfeld: [For the author], 1617

Folio (308 x 195 mm). 16 double-page woodcut plates within ornamental borders (lower margins unfolding and extending beyond text block), title-page within fine woodcut border; border on title-page and a few plates slightly shaved, a few small wormholes in the first and last few leaves, some leaves browned, some other light spotting, one ownership inscription on title-page effaced. Contemporary vellum over pasteboard, remnants of silk ties; front cover spotted, some soiling.

First edition, second issue. "One of the most artistically precious, but also one of the rarest books on mining is the first edition of Georg Engelhard Lohneyss' Report on Mines.... The book was printed in the author's own printing shop at Zellerfeld in the Harz Mountains and appeared first in 1617.... It seems not to have been noticed so far that there are two issues of the Report with the imprint 'Printed at Zellerfeldt Anno 1617'. The six plates in the first issue were added later.... The splendid woodcut plates of the Zellerfeld editions were, according to Nagler, designed by Moses Thym." (W. Prandtl, in Zeitschrift fur Bucherfreunde (1935) 39: 15-22, in translation). Lohneyss was inspector general of mines of Zellerfeld, Clausthal, and Andreasberg. After having a fight with a publisher, he set up his own press: this is the first and only book printed at Zellerfeld. Lohneyss' books are considered masterpieces of typography; most copies, however, were destroyed during the Thirty Years War.

Scarce: only one other complete copy has appeared at auction in this century: the Joseph A. Freilich copy, sold in these rooms, 10 January 2001, lot 364.

REFERENCES

Darmstaedter 98, Not in Duveen or Ferguson

PROVENANCE

Johannes Josephus Ashauen (18^th-century ownership inscription on title-page) — Sotheby’s, 12 February 1994, lot 488