Details
PETTUS, Sir John (1613-1690). Fleta minor. The Laws of Art and Nature, in knowing, judging, assaying, fining, refining and inlarging the bodies of confin'd metals. London: for the author by Thomas Dawkins, 1683.
2 parts in one volume, 2° (352 x 217mm). Engraved frontispiece portrait by R. White, 43 engraved illustrations, ornate opening initials. (Some spotting and browning, G1 with small piece torn from margin, H1v and H2r soiled, signature Z in duplicate, [C]2 holed and slightly torn at lower margin, without final blank in each vol.) Contemporary crimson morocco gilt, sides with double gilt panel, both panels with floral corner-pieces (possibly added later), spine in seven compartments with raised bands, one gilt lettered, the remainder tooled with flowers and volutes, comb-marbled endpapers, gilt edges (slightly discoloured, some scuff marks, extremities rubbed).
FIRST EDITION. Further editions followed in 1685 and 1686. The first part is a translation of Lazarus Ercker's 1574 treatise on metallurgy and essaying, the shorter second part comprises a dictionary of metallurgical terms, while the acompanying illustrations show all the equipment necessary for the processes described: moulds, furnaces, muffles, touch needles, balances, etc. Pettus was appointed deputy governor of the royal mines by Cromwell in 1555, a position he held until his death more than 35 years later. Having spent more than £20,000 on the royalist cause during the Civil War, he appears to have been imprisoned for debt several times in later life, and it has been suggested that 'Fleta minor' was composed in Fleet prison. Hoover 633; Wing P-1906.
2 parts in one volume, 2° (352 x 217mm). Engraved frontispiece portrait by R. White, 43 engraved illustrations, ornate opening initials. (Some spotting and browning, G1 with small piece torn from margin, H1v and H2r soiled, signature Z in duplicate, [C]2 holed and slightly torn at lower margin, without final blank in each vol.) Contemporary crimson morocco gilt, sides with double gilt panel, both panels with floral corner-pieces (possibly added later), spine in seven compartments with raised bands, one gilt lettered, the remainder tooled with flowers and volutes, comb-marbled endpapers, gilt edges (slightly discoloured, some scuff marks, extremities rubbed).
FIRST EDITION. Further editions followed in 1685 and 1686. The first part is a translation of Lazarus Ercker's 1574 treatise on metallurgy and essaying, the shorter second part comprises a dictionary of metallurgical terms, while the acompanying illustrations show all the equipment necessary for the processes described: moulds, furnaces, muffles, touch needles, balances, etc. Pettus was appointed deputy governor of the royal mines by Cromwell in 1555, a position he held until his death more than 35 years later. Having spent more than £20,000 on the royalist cause during the Civil War, he appears to have been imprisoned for debt several times in later life, and it has been suggested that 'Fleta minor' was composed in Fleet prison. Hoover 633; Wing P-1906.
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