Mawe, John; The Mineralogy of Derbyshire with a Description of the most Interesting Mines of the North of England, in Scotland, and in Wales; and an analysis of Mr. Williams's work, intitled "The Mineral Kingdom." [with] A glossary of the terms and phrases used by miners in Derbyshire. London, William Phillips. 1802. Octavo, pp. xv, [1], 211, 3 lithographed plates and map of the mines and collieries.
The work is complete and in a contemporary half calf over cloth boards with ornate spine panels and titles. The binding is tight with light spine edge repairs. The text, map and plates are very clean with very minor toning to the frontispiece. In very good condition.
John Mawe (1764-1829) was a British mining engineer, mineralogist and mineral dealer. He was a member of the Geological Society of London and the Mineralogical Society of Jena.
Mawe was born in Derbyshire and started collecting minerals at a young age. His Mineralogy of Derbyshire was his first published work. Mawe was commissioned by the King of Spain to make a survey of the Derbyshire mines in England, so that "an exact representation" of the mines, showing specimens from each stratum, etc., could be prepared for the King's natural history cabinet. The frontispiece and two other plates show geological cross-sections, while the map of Derbyshire shows the locations of approximately 70 mines and collieries. Mawe describes the topography of the region and then provides a detailed account of the strata and geology of Derbyshire and the relationship to the mines and mineral deposits with a focus on the lead ores, iron, fluorspar, copper, coal and salt..At the time this was the wealthiest mining region in England.
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