Traite de l’art metalique

Paris: Saugrain, 1730. Folding engraved frontispiece and 7 folding engraved plates. Contemporary blind-ruled calf, spine and label gilt, edges sprinkled red, red silk marker. First quire misfolded. First French edition of this mining and metallurgy treatise, the first to describe the system of extracting gold, silver, and copper by boiling the mineral with saline and mercury. Barba invented the “heating pan” method, wherein finely ground silver or gold ore is melted in a copper cauldron with water, salt, and mercury and stirred until the precious metal separates from its composite.

The text begins with general information on metals and minerals and their composition, then provides instructions for extracting, and finally details smelting and metal assaying. It was first published in Castilian in 1640 and immediately became an international success, with multiple editions and translations being printed well into the 19th century. The first version of the book focused on ore found in colonial Peru, where Barba lived. This translation includes a Memoire concerning the mines and ore specific to France and calculations for the costs and profits of mining there.

Goldsmiths-Kress 6757.1; Caillet I: 706; Dorbon 200; Sabin 3255.