Born, Ignaz von; The Bannat of Temeswar, Transylvania, and Hungary, in the Year 1770. Described in a Series of Letter to Prof. Ferber, on the Mines and Mountains Of these different Countries, By Baron Inigo Born, Counsellor of the Royal Mines, in Bohemia. To which is added, John James Ferber's Mineralogical History of Bohemia. Translated from the German, With some explanatory Notes, and a Preface on the Mechanical Arts, the Art of Mining, and its present State and future Improvement, By R.E. Raspe. London: Printed By J. Miller, No. 6, Old Bailey; For G. Kearsley, No. 46, Fleet-Street. M DCC LXXVII. London, 1777. Octavo, pp. xxxix, 13, 320, 24, 2 folding maps.
The work is complete and in a modern full calf binding with gilt titles, raised spine bands and gilt panels. The binding is tight and pristine. The text is clean with light toning, the maps are clean. In very good condition.
Born (1742-1791) was born in Karlsburg, Transylvania (now Rumania) and died in Vienna, Austria. He was a prominent Austrian mineralogist & metallurgist. After completing studies in law in Prague, Born made a lengthy trip throughout Germany, Holland and France studying the natural history, including mineralogy, geology and mining. Upon his return to Transylvania he joined the department of mines and the mint. Among his official duties was a tour of the mines of Hungary and Transylvania. During his life Born became well known as a prominent Freemason, scientist, author, and promoter of Enlightenment ideals. In 1790, he catalogued the mineral collection of Éléonore de Raab, and this work formed the basis of will Babington’s 1799 work “A New System of Mineralogy, in the form of a Catalogue, after the manner of Baron Born’s Systematic Catalogue of the collection of fossils of Mlle Éléonore de Raab. Born also built his own collection of minerals. He sold that collection of 3,592 minerals to Charles Greville in 1773.
Born’s observations made during his official travels in Hungary and Transylvania were published in 1774 as “Briefe über Mineralogischer Gegenstände..”. That work was translated by Rudolf Erich Raspe as “The Bannat of Temeswar, Transylvania, and Hungary, in the Year 1770”. The work also contains a translation of Johann Jacob Ferber's “Beitrage zu der Mineral-Geschichte von Boehmen” (Berlin, 1774) or a mineralogical history of Bohemia. The work by Von Born consists of a series of 23 letters addressed to Ferber describing the mining, geology and mineralogy he encountered on a trip through Hungary. Much of the text contain interesting observations on the production of copper, silver and gold. A map at page 84 shows Von Born's route through the territory. The last letter contains an interesting and historically important account of the various mineral collections visited during the trip. Also present is the large folding map of the area showing the location of the various mining centers and geological features mentioned in the text.
