Details - The mineral kingdom - Biodiversity Heritage Library

The mineral kingdom

Title

The mineral kingdom

Title Variants

Uniform: Mineralreich in Bildern

By

Kurr, Johann Gottlob von, 1798-1870 , author

Van Voorst, John, active 1833-1886 , translator
Edmonston & Douglas, , publisher

Type

Book

Material

Published material

Publication info

Edinburgh, Edmonston and Douglas, 88 Princes Street, 1859

Notes

Translation of: Das Mineralreich in Bildern.

Schuh has identified the translator as John van Voorst.

Text in double columns.

Each plate is accompanied by a page of descriptive text.

The first two plates are numbered as A and B; the remaining plates are numbered I through XXII. Plate A is uncolored; plate B is partially colored.

The colored plates (reproduced here in new engravings, according to Schuh) are hand-painted in iridescent colors, producing a 3-dimensional effect.

"[D]ivided into two sections. The first is the introduction which covers the forms of minerals and crystals, hardness, specific gravity, properties dependent on light and color, electricity, magnetism, and heat, chemical relations and a table of chemical elements. The remainder of the text is devoted to special or descriptive mineralogy. Here the various species and mineral groups are described. These include precious stones, hornblende or augite minerals, felspathic minerals, zeolithic minerals, micaceous minerals, calcareous minerals, compounds of baryta, compounds of strontia, salts of potash, salts of soda, salts of magnesia, salts of ammonia, combustible minerals, and metallic minerals or ores. The hand-colored plates ... were sold by the [original German] publisher to other distribution houses throughout Europe. These were used to issue translations of this popular 'coffee-table' book in English (1859) and French (1859)." --Schuh.

Schuh, C.P. Mineralogy & crystallography, | 3251