Early German Mining and Mining Law

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This volume brings together critical editions, translations into English, and textual studies of two seminal early printed books in the history of German mining. Johan Haselberg’s Der Ursprung gemeynner Berckrecht, dating from the 1530s, is the earliest printed compendium of legal and scientific texts on metal mining, some dating back to the 12th century. The Bergkordnung Norwegen, printed in 1540, stands out as the first mining code composed in Germany for use in another country (Norway). The lengthy introduction surveys early German mining and mining literature in general, then examines the two books in their cultural, historical, and linguistic contexts. On the one hand, early practices and developments in the evolution of compiling technical information are demonstrated in the texts; however, the books also reveal some of the problems adherent to textual transmission in the early period of book printing.