De Re Metallica

The most important mining text for nearly two centuries after its publication, De Re Metallica uses beautiful woodcut drawings to show tools, machinery and also a history of mining. It was published in Latin, but German and Italian editions followed. This edition also includes a copy of De animantibus subterraneis, which first appeared in 1549.

The main English translation of De Re Metallica is by Herbert Clark Hoover and Lou Henry Hoover, 1912. The Museum library has a copy of this, and the 1950 edition.

De Re Metallica can be viewed in the Museum library. It is on display, showing the magnificent woodcut drawings of mining methods. To conserve this book, the pages are turned every month and it is shielded from daylight most of the time, unless it is being viewed.