Information
NATURALLY CARBONATED BOHEMIAN MINERAL SPRINGS
REUSS, Franz Ambrosius. Die Mineralquellen zu Bilin.
Vienna, Geislinger (printed by Anton Strauss), 1808. 8vo (19.5 x 12.5 cm). With an engraved title-vignette and a folding engraved view of Bilin. Original blue-grey wrappers, bolts unopened.
| Orders and Information | € 600 |
First edition of an uncommon work on the mineral springs of Bilin (Bílina) in Bohemia, where Reuss lived and served as physician to Prince Lobkowitz, to whom the present edition is dedicated. It discusses the history and natural history of the springs, their physical form and their medicinal use, and gives information about their mineral content and carbonation. One chapter discusses the springs at Karlsbad and Teplitz. Reuss (1761-1830) had first written about the Bilin springs in his 1788 Naturgeschichte der Biliner Sauerbrunnen. A second edition of the present work appeared in 1827. The Bilin springs are famous today both as theraputic baths and as sources of naturally carbonated water, exporting about four million bottles annually. Zittel calls Reuss's important Lehrbuch der Mineralogie "the most complete and trustworthy text-book founded on Werner's teaching." At least in the present copy, the dedication leaf is a cancel. Aside from it and the folding plate, the (laid) paper has a faint green cast.
In fine condition, untrimmed and with the bolts unopened. The wrapper is slightly worn. A detailed account of mineral springs in Bilin, Bohemia.
