Nueva Teórica y Práctica del Beneficio de los Metales de Oro y Plata, por Fundición y Amalgamación. México: En la Oficina de D. Mariano de Zúñiga y Ontiveros
Author: Joseph Garcés Y Eguía
Year: 1802
Publisher: Mariano de Zuniga y Ontiveros
Place: Mexico City
Description:
[10]+168 pages. Small octavo. (7½x5¼") bound in period tree sheep, spine tooled in gilt, leather labels, marbled endpapers. First Edition.
An important text on Spanish colonial mining practice. The author was the attorney for the Real Audiencia, expert advisor to the royal mines in Zacatecas and professor at the School of Mines in Mexico City.
Joseph Garcés y Eguía introduced important improvements in the technique for the exploitation of metals. In 1823, once Mexican independence had been achieved and shortly before his death, he was part of the Mining Tribunal. The text was used in the classes of the Royal Mining Seminar not only because it was the first critical treatise on the patio amalgamation method, the most widespread and used in New Spain, but also because it was a good means to learn about mining. In it, Garcés y Eguía uses chemistry postulates and continually introduces recommendations based on his own experience, masterfully combining New Spain contributions with European ones. Likewise, it exposes the main mining problems of the viceroyalty, the expectations to resolve them and the description of its new method.
Condition:
Some rubbing to cover edges; minor soiling to margins of preliminary pages and title page with private collector blindstamp to lower margin of title page and lightly in script to head else very good.
