Large woodcut device on title with arms, surmounted by papal & royal crowns and numerous woodcuts & woodcut initials in the text. Printed tables in the text. 4 p.l., 71 leaves, one leaf. Small 4to, fine 19th-cent. Jansenist binding of crushed red morocco by Thibaron-Echaubard (as usual, washed), dentelles gilt, a.e.g. Valladolid: A. & D. Fernandez de Cordova, 1572.

First edition and very scarce. Arfe (1535-95), studied anatomy at Salamanca and became a celebrated artisan in precious metals. Trained as a goldsmith by his father, he was a leading figure of the Spanish artistic style known as “Plateresque,” which was based on elaborate... More about Quilatador de la Plata, Oro, y Piedras

8 p.l., 164, [12] pp. 8vo, 19th-cent. red pebbled morocco (minor foxing), a.e.g. London: W. Pearson for T. Osborne, 1730.

First edition in English of Behrens’ Hercynia Curiosa (1703). “Very scarce. A personal narrative of an excursion through northern Germany. The book is interesting for its account of the geology and fossils of the region, and also the author took a special interest in the mineral wealth of the region. Therefore, this work is principally a description of the various mines, quarries, and caves he chanced to visit. Of great value for reporting the state of the mining and metallurgy of... More about The Natural History of Hartz-Forest, in His Majesty King George’s German Dominions. Being a...

Woodcut device on title & numerous woodcuts in the text. 345, [7] leaves. Small 8vo, cont. vellum (some foxing, dampstain in fore-edge margin of first & last leaves). Venice: P.G. Giglio, 1559.

Fourth edition of the first systematic book on mining and metallurgy. Biringuccio (1480-1539?), after travelling throughout Italy and Germany inspecting metallurgical operations and running an iron mine and forge at Boccheggiano, was appointed director of the mint at Siena. He later cast cannon and built fortifications for the Este and Farnese families. At the time of his death he was head of the papal foundry and director of papal munitions at Rome. More about Pirotechnia...nella quale si tratta non solo della diversità delle minere, ma ancho di quanto;...

Large engraved vignette on title. Title in red & black. 8 p.l., 626, [69] pp. Folio, cont. blind-stamped pigskin over wooden boards, arms on covers effaced. Lyon: J. & P. Prost, 1636.

First edition, Schuh’s issue B (no stated priority) with the dedication to Charles de Neufville. “Very scarce. Compendium of all the author ever discovered or read about the subject of mineralogy. It was published posthumously from notes he left by his Order at Lyon six years after his death. Printed in a double column format in a relatively small type-size, the work is a vast storehouse of all things mineralogical, including new ideas... More about Mineralogia, sive Naturalis Philosophiae Thesauri, in quibus Metallicae Concretionis...

Scroll (255 x 1440 mm.), decorated endpaper at beginning. At end, in trans.: “Matsumoto, Nagano Prefecture, borrowed from Kanzaemon Oba & copied by Fujiwara, at age of 83, working under the fiefdom lord Mizuno, 1862.”

A most unusual scroll. The beginning of this scroll provides a detailed and highly technical explanation of the early history of the exploitation of coal in China and Japan, with descriptions of the different grades of coal. The author has provided information on how coal was located and mined, the mining tools used, how to excavate mines, techniques to control flooding of the mines, etc. This is followed by finely... More about Illustrated manuscript scroll on paper, with a number of paintings in brush & wash of various...

Four parts in one vol. with continuous pagination. 2 p.l., 748 pp. 8vo, cont. marbled boards, paper labels on spine. Halle: “im Verlag der Waisenhaus-Buchhandlung, 1805.”

A rare and fascinating journal — which did not extend beyond its first four parts — concerning the Harz Mountains in northern Germany and the surrounding lands. “Hercynia” is the Latin name for “Harz.” The Harz Mountains are most famous for the rich mining activities which have taken place there since the Bronze Age. Silver was discovered in the 10th century and iron, copper, lead, barite, and zinc were also mined. Forestry has also been an important industry. More about Hercynisches Archiv oder Beiträge zur Kunde des Harzes und seiner Nachbarländer. Einziger Band...

3 p.l. (lacking the first leaf, a blank; title a little soiled), 143, 152-66 pp. Small 4to, cont. English limp vellum. London: N. Okes for N. Bourne, 1623.

First edition of one of the great early English accounts of the exploration of the interior of Africa and the first to be published separately (others appear in collections); it is a classic account of the search for gold.

Ghana, the earliest known empire of the western Sudan, first entered the historical consciousness of North Africa near the end of the eighth century but probably originated long before. Famous to North Africans as the... More about The Golden Trade: or, A Discovery of the River Gambra, and the Golden Trade of the Aethiopians. ...

Oblong thick 8vo, orig. padded silk cloth binding. [Japan]: 1898.

A rare collection of 32 albumen photographs taken by Toshimo Mitsumura (1877-1955), the famous commercial photographer and printing entrepreneur; one of the greatest industrialists of the Meiji period, he is also highly esteemed today as a photographer. These photographs represent some of his earliest efforts. Mitsumura’s photographs have always been highly regarded and are held in the permanent collections of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.

A native of Kobe, Mitsumura purchased his first camera at the age of 14 and quickly became... More about A concertina album of 32 original albumen photographs (each 100 x 140 mm.) of the famous Besshi...

Finely engraved title-page, one folding engraved map, & numerous large & fine engraved head- & tail-pieces. xx, 464, [34] pp. Folio, cont. marbled sheep (lower cover a little abraded), spine richly & brightly gilt, orange morocco lettering piece on spine. Vienna: M. A. Schmidt, 1780.

First edition, and a really fine copy, of this beautifully decorated and attractive book. This work contains a detailed account and history, district by district, of the mines of Bohemia, an area of great mineral wealth including coal, lignite, iron, and the raw materials for porcelain. Peithner provides much information on the earlier and contemporary mineralogical and geological histories of the area... More about Versuch über die natürliche and politische Geschichte der böhmischen and mährischen Bergwerke

Title printed in red & black. 18 p.l., 679 pp.; [24], [92] leaves. Two parts in one vol. Large folio, cont. blind-stamped panelled pigskin over boards (light browning). [From title-page of second part]: Lyon [but really Geneva]: P. Santandreanus, 1582.

An excellent edition of Pliny’s Natural History, the greatest general scientific and encyclopedic work of antiquity, a storehouse of physical, geographical, and historical knowledge which profoundly affected the Western world’s thought for more than 1500 years. It deals with mathematics, physics, geography, astronomy, medicine, physiology, zoology, botany, geology, mineralogy, mining, metallurgy, pharmacology, anthropology, philosophy, history, agriculture, the arts and letters, etc.

This edition contains the valuable Castigationes of Sigismund Gelenius (1497-1554), the eminent Greek scholar and humanist, who used two ancient manuscripts in the preparation. Adrianus Turnebus (1512-65), professor of Greek at the College Royal, Joseph Justus Scaliger (1540-1609), Justus Lipsius (1547-1606), and others have provided notes and variant readings. More about Historiae Mundi Libri XXXVII…accesserunt ad Marginem Variae Lectiones ac Notae Fer. Pintiani,...

Finely engraved allegorical frontis. incorporating a port. of Louis Auguste de Bourbon, the dedicatee, 179 engraved plates (many folding), & six folding engraved tables. Engraved arms on titles & several engraved headpieces. 10 p.l., 348 pp.; 3 p.l., 386 pp. Two vols. Large 4to, cont. fine red sheep, gilt fillet round sides, spines gilt, contrasting vellum lettering pieces on spines, a.e.g. Paris: J. Anisson, 1697.

First edition of the classic French work of the period on artillery, which served several generations of artillery officers, including the young Napoleon. This richly illustrated work went through several later French editions (1702, 1741, 1745) and was translated... More about Memoires d'Artillerie

Folding engraved map (520 x 595 mm.) in fifteen sections, finely handcolored, backed with linen as issued (two sections also backed with marbled board as issued), preserved in the orig. marbled card slip-case (a little worn), orig. yellow printed paper label on upper cover. London: Published by J. Cary, March 1st 1824.

First edition of William Smith’s geological map of Durham, one in a series of county maps produced by Smith, each separately issued, which were the first detailed geological maps of specific areas. Smith’s individual maps are extremely rare on the market.

Smith produced the first geological map of England and Wales in 1815, which contained “an amazing amount of correct detail” (D.S.B.) and was the basis for all the geological maps that followed. In 1819 he began the publication of a geological atlas of England and Wales. Published in parts over five years, it remained unfinished, containing twenty-one maps of various English counties. More about Geological Map of Durham