De Re Metallica (On the Nature of Metals)

seen in the library of the town of Bejar. An interesting note appears in the glossary given by Sir John Pettus in his translation of Lazarus Erckern's work on assaying. He says²⁶ Sir John Pettus, Fleta Minor, The Laws of Art and Nature, &c., London, 1636, p. 121. "but I cannot enlarge my observations upon any more words, because the printer calls for what I did write of a metallick dictionary, after I first proposed the printing of Erckern, but intending within the compass of a year to publish Georgius Agricola, De Re Metallica On the Nature of Metals (being fully translated) in English, and also to add a dictionary to it, I shall reserve my remaining essays (if what I have done hitherto be approved) till then, and so I proceed in the dictionary." The translation was never published and extensive inquiry in various libraries and among the family of Pettus has failed to yield any trace of the manuscript.

A symmetrical, calligraphic printer's ornament consisting of interlaced loops and flourishes.