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C1556
(1560)
A. Wall plates B. Dividers C. Long end posts D. End plates.
Artist:
Georgius Agricola (1494 - 1555)
Rare woodcut from De Re Metallica printed in 1560, which was the the most famous study on all aspects of mining and metallurgy, and one of the first technological books of modern times. For when the first tunnel is connected … Read Full Description
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Full Title:
A. Wall plates B. Dividers C. Long end posts D. End plates.
Date:
C1556
(1560)
Artist:
Georgius Agricola (1494 - 1555)
Engraver:
Hans Rudolf Manuel Deutsch
(fl.1525 –
1572)
Condition:
In good condition.
Technique:
Woodcut
Image Size:
140mm
x 220mm
AUTHENTICITY
Genuine antique
dated:
1560
Description:
Rare woodcut from De Re Metallica printed in 1560, which was the the most famous study on all aspects of mining and metallurgy, and one of the first technological books of modern times.
For when the first tunnel is connected with the first shaft, two new shafts are sunk; or if the inrush of water hinders sinking, sometimes three are sunk; so that one may take the place of a sump and the work of sinking which has been begun may be continued by means of the remaining two shafts; the same is done in the case of the second tunnel and the third, or even the fourth, if so many are driven into a mountain. The second kind of shaft is very deep, sometimes as much as sixty, eighty, or one hundred fathoms. These shafts continue vertically toward the depths of the earth, and by means of a hauling-rope the broken rock and metalliferous ores are drawn out of the mine; for which reason miners call them vertical shafts. Over these shafts are erected machines by which water is extracted; when they are above ground the machines are usually worked by horses, but when they are in tunnels, other kinds are used which are turned by water-power. Such are the shafts which are sunk when a vein is rich in metal. Now shafts, of whatever kind they may be, are supported in various ways. If the vein is hard, and also the hanging and footwall rock, the shaft does not require much timbering, but timbers are placed at intervals, one end of each of which is fixed in a hitch cut into the rock of the hangingwall and the other fixed into a hitch cut in the footwall. To these timbers are fixed small timbers along the footwall, to which are fastened the lagging and ladders. The lagging is also fixed to the timbers, both to those which screen off the shaft on the ends from the vein, and to those which screen off the rest of the shaft from that part in which the ladders are placed. The lagging on the sides of the shaft confine the vein, so as to prevent fragments of it which have become loosened by water from dropping into the shaft and terrifying, or injuring, or knocking off the miners and other workmen who are going up or down the ladders from one part of the mine to another. For the same reason, the lagging between the ladders and the haulage-way on the other hand, confine and shut off from the ladders the fragments of rock which fall from the buckets or baskets while they are being drawn up; moreover, they make the arduous and difficult descent and ascent to appear less terrible, and in fact to be less dangerous. BOOK V – Explains the art of underground mining and the art of surveying.
BOOK V – Explains the art of underground mining and the art of surveying.
Biography:
Georgius Agricola (1494-1555)
Agricola was a German Catholic, scholar and scientist. Known as “the father of mineralogy“, he was born at Glauchau in Saxony. His birth name was Georg Pawer (Bauer) and Agricola is the Latinised version of his name, by which he was known his entire adult life. Agricola, studied at Leipzig, Bologna and Padua and became town physician of the mining centre of Joachimsthal in Bohemia and physician at Chemnitz in Saxony from 1534 until his death. Living in mining regions all his life made it possible for him to study mining practices first hand and these direct observations made this series particularly valuable and effective.
The De Re Metallica embraces everything connected with the mining industry and metallurgical processes, including administration, prospecting, the duties of officials and companies and the manufacture of glass, sulphur and alum. The magnificent woodcut illustrations by Hans Rudolf Manuel Deutsch illustrate the different processes involved in mining and include mechanical engineering details such as the use of water-power, hauling, pumps, ventilation, blowing of furnaces and transport of ores.
Agricola made an important contribution to physical geology. He recognized the influence of water and wind on the shaping of the landscape and gave a clear account of of the order of the strata he saw in the mines. Writing on the origin of mountains, he descrivbes the eroding action of water as their cause with a perspicacity much in advance of his time.
The De Re Metallica was frequently reprinted and is said to have reached China in the seventeenth century. Interest in it was revived in the eighteenth century by Abraham Gottlieb Werner, and in 1912 it was translated into English by Herbert Hoover, afterwards President of the United States.
