"The First Handbook of Modern Systematic Mineralogy" - Horblit
AGRICOLA, Georgius. De ortu & causis subterraneorum; de natura eorum quar efflunt ex terra; de natura fossilium; de veteribus & novis metallis; Bermannus, sive De re metallica Dialogus; Interpretatio Germanica vocum rei metallicae, addito Indice foecundissimo. Basel, Froben, 1546.
Small folio [29.5 x 18.5 cm], 487 pp. (verso blank), (26) ff., including 2 integral blanks g6 & m6, and 3 divisional titles, 1 full-page woodcut diagram on p. 146. Bound in 18th-century French red morocco, covers triple gilt-ruled, spine with raised bands, 5 compartments with floral motif, two with author/title, Basel/1546, inner dentelles gilt as well, a.e.g. Bibliographical note on verso of front endleaf. Ownership inscription on title bleached, small rust hole in upper blank margin of a2, faint waterstaining just touching top of a few scattered leaves. Generally excellent.
$30,000 First edition of a collection of fundamental texts by the "Father of Mineralogy" (Werner apud PMM). This "complete series of inquiries concerning the principles of geology and mineralogy... must be considered his greatest scientific achievement" (DSB I.78). Two titles are particularly significant: De Ortu et Causis Subterraneorum, the first work on physical geology, and De Natura Fossilium, the first handbook of modern systematic mineralogy. "No appreciation of Agricola's contribution to science can be gained without a study of De Ortu et Causis and De Natura Fossilium..." (Hoover).
In the five books of De Ortu et Causis Subterraneorum, Agricola lays out the first foundations of a physical geology, discarding many theories proposed by the ancients, including Aristotle and Pliny. De Ortu is notable for its descriptions of wind and water as powerful geological forces, and for its explanation of earthquakes and volcanic eruptions as produced by subterranean vapors and gases heated by the Earth's internal heat.
The companion title appearing in the same volume, De Natura Fossilium, has been called Agricola's "greatest contribution to palaeontology", a comprehensive account of the discovery and occurrence of minerals. This book is not restricted to what would be called fossils today. The Latin word fossilis meant anything dug out of the ground, and Agricola's book (in ten parts) includes descriptions of all kinds of minerals, gemstones, and even gallstones. "Agricola supplied a new scientific classification of minerals based on their physical properties. He described 80 different minerals and metallic ores (including 20 new ones), their mode of occurrence and mutual relation" (PMM 79).
This compendium also contains De Natura Eorum quae Effluunt ex Terra, in four books, on subterranean waters and gases; De Veteribus et Novis Metallis, in two books, devoted largely to the history of metals and topographical mineralogy; a new edition of Bermannus (first 1530); and finally Rerum Metallicarum Interpretatio, an expanded glossary of Latin and German mineralogical and metallurgical terms. A second edition of the collection was printed in Basel in 1558.
Agricola's geological writings reflect an immense amount of study and first-hand observation, not just of rocks and minerals, but of every aspect of mining technology and practice of the time. After studying at Leipzig, Bologna and Padua, Agricola (the Latinized form of Georg Bauer, 1494-1555) became town physician of the mining centre of Joachimsthal in Bohemia. In 1530 Prince Maurice of Saxony appointed him historiographer, at which point he relocated to Chemnitz in Saxony. He was elected burgomaster of the town, but the staunch Catholic quickly lost favour with the passionately Protestant citizenry. He spent his latter days furthering his geological studies, and acted as town physician from 1533 until his death (Encyclopedia Britannica 1911, I.386).
* Horblit 2a; PMM 79 (De Re Metallica); Hoover 14; Norman 19; Duveen pp. 5-6; Partington II, pp. 44-45; Poggendorff I.17; Note: Encyclopedia Brit. incorrectly lists De Ortu et Causis and De Natura Eorum as separate publications, erroneously dating them 1544 and 1545
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