Undated second edition, the first with an engraved title-page and engraved illustrations, of an important but rare work on mining and mineralogy, giving valuable information on the organization of mining and its employees. It first appeared in 1617 under the title, Bericht, vom Bergkwerck, ..., illustrated with woodcuts. Löhneysen or Löhneiß (1552-1622) borrowed from better known works by Georgius Agricola (1556) and Lazarus Ercker (1580), but he added a great deal of new information on the economic aspects of mining, as well as many other new details, for example, first describing the European smelting of zinc: he refers to it as an accidental condensate in chinks and cracks of furnaces smelting the Goslar lead ores. The very detailed plates clearly illustrate of the practise of seventeenth-century mining.
The present second edition is generally the first that can be found on the market. It for the first time has an engraved title-page (it has no letterpress title-page), engraved for this edition by Hieronymus von Hensbergen, who is said to have been active from 1660 to 1690 (the earliest and latest dates may have been taken from the estimated date of the present edition and the date of the third edition, but other sources seem to suggest he was active from the 1660s to the 1680s). With some contemporary marginal manuscript annotations and an owner's inscription on the title-page: "anjeßo besitzes mich Johann Friderich MZB. 16 An 5[?] pac[?] : Im . 20te. May. 79". The binding shows some signs of wear and some very slight foxing throughout. Overall in good condition. Brüning 2021; Lipperheide 1991; VD17 39:125728Z. cf. Partington II, p. 107; VD17 23:297879D (1617) & 3:623071T (1690); for the author: DSB 8, pp. 464-465.