AGRICOLA (Georges). DE RE METALLICA LIBRI XII. Quibus officia, instrumenta, machinæ, ac omnia denique ad mettalicam spectantia... Ejusdem De Animantibus subterraneis liber... Basel, Froben, 1556. In folio of [10]-2 bl.-502(misc.)-[74] pages, ivory soft vellum (modern binding). ORIGINAL EDITION of this famous book describing how to extract and treat metals. It is THE CLASSIC REFERENCE TREATY on mining and metallurgy. Georges Agricola (1494-1555), who spent a large part of his life among the miners of Joachimsthal in Germany (a town now famous for its silver and uranium mines), was the pioneer of mineralogical science; here he describes, among other things, how to extract gold from sand, how to prepare saltpetre and various hydraulic processes. This beautiful book is illustrated with 273 woodcuts, including 2 hors-texte plates, one of which is folding, and which are partly the work of Hans Rudolf Manuel Deutsch. Old repair to the title with some letters missing and in the margin of 5 leaves. A very good copy. (Printing n°79).