De Natura Fossilium (Textbook of Mineralogy) Translated by M. C. and J. A. Bandy

by Georgius Agricola

This 1546 publication remains a landmark in geology due to its unprecedented classifications by physical property and locality, its simple standardized naming system, its meticulous summaries of earlier studies, and its employment of observation and personal experience.

Hardcover

First published June 10, 2004

About the author

Georgius Agricola, the Latinized scholarly nom de plume of Georg Bauer, was the foremost Renaissance scholar of metallurgy and mining. Born in 1494, he received a classical education at the universities of Germany and Italy, graduating from Leipzig in 1518. He died in 1555, the year before the publication of his woodcut-illustrated masterwork, De re metallica.