Illustrated manuscript on paper, one blank leaf, 173 leaves, each with a full-page richly colored trade mark, in many hues including silver, of the iron mills active in the Sankt Gallen area of Upper Styria in Austria. Small 4to (190 x 145 mm.), cont. blind-stamped panelled vellum (a little worn & defective), orig. clasps & catches by IRON WORKS, Styria

[Styria; ca. 1610-20]. An important document for the early history of iron ore mining, refining, and trading in the Erzberg region of Styria, the most important ore mining area of Central Europe. These activities have continued from Roman times and were especially important in the 15th, 16th, and 17th centuries. This illustrated manuscript is a directory of the devices of all the iron mills likely active in the Sankt Gallen area in the early 17th century. These devices comprise a maker's mark - usually a geometrically shaped symbol but sometimes in the shape of an object such as an imperial orb, a cluster of grapes, a fish, or a mineworker - placed over a large figuratively and ornamentally designed cartouche in a variety of forms containing the name of the mill, i. e. of its current owner. Among these owners there are a number of women. Each of these devices is richly colored; the coloring is fine and fresh. Thanks to the names entered in the directory, its provenance and date may be exactly determined, as almost every entry can be assigned to a known iron mill proprietor in the Sankt Gallen area. The Pantz family is represented by Abraham, Christoph and Sebastian, active on the Pölzenbach stream near Sankt Gallen and at Weissenbach on the river Enns; we know that Sebastian died in 1613. The Schweinzer family, who also owned an iron mill at Weissenbach, likewise has three entries: Adam, Blasius (his symbol a fish) and Elias, the latter two being recorded as iron mill owners in 1604 and 1617 respectively. Wolf Scheichenfelder II was active at Sankt Gallen between 1587 and 1625 and Georg Thalhammer (mentioned in 1609) milled at Oberhof near Sankt Gallen. Other names prominent in the mining industry of northern Styria ca. 1600 include Händl, Haydn (Franz, his symbol a crossbow), Kohlthaler, Schrapacher, Stubmer (Matthias, his symbol a clover leaf), Winterl, and Würschenhofer. The miniatures include two floral wreaths (leaves 45 and 111), perhaps intended to contain half-titles, possibly with retrospective dates. It seems that the initial blank leaf (unnumbered, but of the same paper as the rest of the manuscript, so not a flyleaf) was intended to be supplied with a title on completion of the manuscript. However, this never happened, as the directory was used only at the time when it was written and then seems to have been forgotten about - which would explain the manuscript's fine and fresh condition. The cartouches are supplied with names only on the first 32 leaves (a few are left blank here, the entry on leaf 32 is only rudimentary). The final leaf provides an overview of colour variants, giving simple maker's marks as examples. The watermark (a curved escutcheon filled with a number of unidentifiable figures) is not in Piccard. Fine condition. Inner hinges strengthened, a few old and minor repairs to a few leaves, some light soiling and browning to edges at beginning, otherwise only some occasional foxing. ❧ Walter Stipperger, Almanach des steirischen Berg- und Hüttenwesens, Mitteilungen des Museums für Bergbau, Geologie und Technik am Landesmuseum Joanneum Graz, Heft 29, 1968.