Practical Gold-Mining

Cover of Practical Gold-Mining
Adoption Amount: $650
Category: Preserve for the Future
Location: Smithsonian Libraries Research Annex

Practical gold-mining; a comprehensive treatis on the origin and occurrence of gold-bearing gravels, rocks, and ores, and the methods by which the gold is extracted

By Charles G. Warnford Lock. New York: E. and F. N. Spon, 1889.

Imagine that you are a Victorian gentleman with a reasonable income and a mid-life crisis. You hear about a gold strike somewhere in the far corners of the earth (to you, at least). In hopes of turning your bourgeois into gorgeois, you pack up your things and say "Toodle-oo" to the missus. What’s the first thing you buy to prepare for your new adventure? A book, naturally! Specifically, you want Charles G. Warnford Lock’s Practical Gold-Mining. Lock (1853-1909) was a veteran miner of ores, and he codified that knowledge into an exhaustive and beautifully illustrated 788-page handbook of mining techniques from hand-panning to steam-powered shovels.

Condition and Treatment: 

This late 19th-century maroon cloth publisher's binding has gold stamping on the front cover and spine. There are areas of loss to the spine, and the textblock is not firmly attached to the cover. Conservators will remove the textblock from the case and then clean and reline the spine. The pastedowns and endsheets with advertisements will be retained. The cover will be repaired, and the relined textblock will be recased in the repaired cover.

Discover more about this book in our Catalog.