Schreittmann, Ciriacus | Probierbüchlein, a rare issue

Schreittmann, Ciriacus

Probierbüchlin. Frembde und subtile Künst, vormals im Truck nie gesehen, von Woge und Gewicht, Auch von allerhandt Proben, auff Ertz, Golt, Silber, und andere Methall, &c. Nützlich und gut allen denen so mit subtilen Künsten der Bergkwerck umbgehen. Frankfurt: Heirs of C. Egenolffs, 1580

Small 8vo (140 x 95 mm). Title printed in red and black with illustration of a balance, 18 woodcut illustrations in-text; title with slight loss from abrasion. 18th-century boards; gouge to front cover. Marbled slipcase.

First edition, second issue (with a new title-page and colophon leaf); both issues are very rare.

"This is a work on the dry assay of gold and silver. The first half of the book is taken up with a description of the construction and use of the balance and weights which is very minute and careful, the second treats of furnaces, muffles and materials, and the last part contains the operations” (Ferguson, II, p. 341, owning a copy of this issue). The woodcuts depict assaying equipment and furnaces.

Contrary to the implications of the title, the present work is an entirely new work and not one of the many editions of the Probierbüchlein of the 16th century. It’s rarity is such that it was not in the Freilich collection (the largest private collection of Probierbüchlein and associated books formed in the 20th century). "Three other small books on assaying were published late in the sixteenth century, which, though bearing the same title, are totally independent. These are Modestin Fachs Probier Büchlein (possibly 1569), Samuel Zimmermann's Probierbuch (Augsburg 1573), and Ciriacus Schreittmann's Probierbüchlein (Frankfurt 1578). They contain more information on some specialized aspects of assaying even than that given by Agricola and Ercker” (Sisco & Smith, Bergwerk- und Probierbüchlein, 1949, p. 162). 

REFERENCES

Darmstaedter, p. 189; Hoover 730; Partington, II, p. 67 ("describes balances and weights fully”)

PROVENANCE

Walter Hübbe, Berlin (bookplate)