Schönberg, Abraham von | First edition of Schönberg’s comprehensive treatise on mining

Schönberg, Abraham von

Ausführliche Berg-Information zur dienlichen Nachricht vor alle, die bey dem Berg- und Schmeltzwesen zu schaffen. Leipzig: D. Fleischer, 1693

Two parts in one, folio (305 x 194 mm). Folding engraved allegorical frontispiece by Bodenhild after Bottschild; occasional browning to text, final portion with manuscript numeration in inner margin, mis-pagination 1–136, 187–240. Contemporary vellum, armorial spine label (indecipherable), red edges; light spotting.

First edition of one of the most detailed seventeenth-century manuals of mining and metallurgy, arranged alphabetically by subject and encompassing every aspect of the industry from assaying, smelting, and ore washing to administration, tunnelling, and miners’ songs. Written by the Saxon mining official Abraham von Schönberg, the work provides a systematic account of contemporary techniques and industrial organisation. The second part, Redens-Arten bey Berg- und Schmeltz-Werken, serves as a glossary of mining terminology and was later incorporated into the Corpus juris & systema rerum metallicarum (1698) (see lot 156).

PROVENANCE

Joseph A. Freilich (booklabel; Sotheby’s New York, 10 January 2001, lot 481)