KURZE UND DEUTLICHE VORSTELLUNG DER EDLEN PROBIERKUNST
Nuremberg: Johann Zieger, 1695. 1st Edition. Hardcover. 17TH CENTURY TREATISE ON METALLURGY AND CHEMISTRY. Anonymous. "Treatise on the assaying of metallic ores. It gives an account of the reagents, apparatus, furnaces, precautions, lists of technical terms, and methods for analyzing ores in the dry way." (Ferguson I, 487). - "The manner in which this sampling was carried out and the progress it had already made in the 17th century is best shown by a contemporary assay book which appeared without any indication of the author under the title. The anonymously published work is dedicated to Franz Carl Przehorschowsky, Baron of Ovasegowiz in Zbraslawiz, and thus suggests a Bohemian practitioner as the author. Independent assay book, which the author has compiled "from his own long-term and proven experience". In addition to a general introduction to the art of assaying, the necessary equipment, individual metals as well as glass and the saltpeter boiling process are presented. The appendix explains the most important chemical terms and sayings. The pretty frontispiece shows a well-stocked chemical laboratory in which chemists and assistants are at work. DETAILS AND CONDITION: Engraved frontis showing assayers laboratory. 12mo, [40], 523 pp, cont. rev. leather, very worn and rubbed, front cover nearly detached, a10 torn, repaired w/slight loss of text. Overall in good condition. RARITY: Extremely Rare. USTC lists ten library copies all in Germany. RBH records four copies sold at auction in the last century. PROVENANCE: From the Arthur C. Greenberg History of Chemistry Collection. REFERENCES: Ferchl p. 425. VD17 3:606584F. Darmstädter, Probierbüchlein 102. Good / No Jacket. Item #EBS100342
Price: $3,200.00