Schindler, Christian Carl | First edition of an important early manual of assaying and metallurgy

Schindler, Christian Carl

Der geheimde Münz-Guardein und Berg-Probiere…Welchem wohl corrigiret beygefüget ist die vormahls herausgegebene Metallische Probier-Kunst. Frankfurt: Johann Jacob Winckler, 1705

8vo (163 x 96 mm). Engraved frontispiece showing metallurgical furnaces and workshops, one engraved plate, one folding printed plate, woodcut illustrations in text, title printed in red and black; some browning and spotting. Contemporary vellum-backed decorated paper boards; corners and edges a little rubbed.

First edition and very rare. Schindler, a mathematician and mechanic associated with the Freiberg mining works, offers a clear, practical description of contemporary assaying techniques used in Saxony. This expanded treatise incorporates his earlier Metallische Probier-Kunst (first published 1697), with detailed instructions for testing and refining metals, and for the management of minting and smelting operations. The engraved and woodcut illustrations depict assaying ovens, crucibles, balances, and other metallurgical apparatus used at Freiberg.

REFERENCES

Hoover 721 (French ed. only); Partington II, p. 731; Cole, p. 488