Roessler, Balthasar; Sepeculum Metallurgiae Politissimum. Oder: Hell-pollierter Berg-Bau-Spiegel, Darinnen zu befinden: Wie man Bergwerck suchen, ausschuerssen, mit Rutzen bauen, allen-thalben wohl anstellen, befoerdern, dabey alles Gestein und Ertze gewinnen, foerdern, roesten, schmeltzen und Gut zu machen.. ..so dem Bergwerck zugethan ist, wissen und verstehen soll. Allen Berg-Bau-Liebenden, sie kommen in-order nicht in die Grube… Johann Jacob Wincklern, Dresden, 1700. Folio, pp. title page in red and black, half title, text in double columns. 6,168, 27, 25 engraved plates, several text tables. Ornamental initials and head and tail pieces.
The work is complete and in an early vellum spine with inked title, over modern boards with vellum corners. The binding is tight and clean. The text is very clean with very light toning, early signature on upper title page margin dated 1860, small earlier signature on lower title page margin.
Balthasar Roessler (1606-1673) was a German mining engineer, mine administrator and geologist in the prince of Saxony's service, and the inventor of a suspended mining compass in 1633. Much of his career was spent in Freiberg.
He is best remembered for this his only published work which was edited and published after his death by his grandson, Johann Christoph Goldberg. Roessler’s work is an important and finely illustrated pioneering work on geology, mining and metallurgy in Saxony at the end of the seventeenth century. Rössler presented the idea that mineralized veins were the result of infilling of open fissures and this directed attention to the significance of crystal druses in veins.
Roessler begins the work with an introduction detailing the history of mining literature and states his gratitude to earlier scientists including Agricola, Ercker, Löhneyss and Becher.
He follows with sections on earth, minerals, mountains, and surface soil conditions. He describes and illustrates the practical aspects concerning 17th century mining and metallurgy, from surveying and finding lodes to digging and fortifying mines with timber, to extraction and processing of metals, with detailed instructions for the various processes. A number of tables provide extensive information on smelting techniques and processes.
Roessler provides a section on the use of divining rods, suggesting that the user's own energy affects the rod's results. Divining rod usage is shown in one of the engravings. Surveyors are overseeing four workers, three of whom are following the path of their dowsers while the other marks the lines. Twenty-five copper engravings by Roessler's grandson, Johann Christoph Goldberg, illustrate various surveying, mine engineering, mining, smelting, and refining techniques, as well as depicting various lode formations. An index, a list for the binder of the engravings and their locations, and a large glossary of mining terminology follow the text. The plates are numbered but not in the order in which they are to be inserted in the text and often the complete plate did not appear in some copies. All of the plates are complete in this copy.
