De Re Metallica 1556 • Agricola • £ 26.50 (A) Originally published in 1556, this was one of the earliest technical books ever produced, and certainly the first on mining to be based on field research and observation. Its detailed technical drawings were the first to illustrate many branches of mining and to provide a realistic history of mining from antiquity to the mid-sixteenth century. Still regarded as an authoritative work today, it was this book’s translation from the original Latin in 1912 that brought it to a wider public; it is this edition that is reprinted here, complete with all 289 original woodcuts. It really does give an extraordinary picture of the first age of technology in its 638 pages. Paperback Dover Publications. Add to shopping basket

The Ball Clays of Devon and Dorset • £ 3.99 • (C) “The Whats of Devon and Dorset?” I hear some say; the more learned will already know that without ball clay we wouldn’t have plates, loos, basins, spark plugs, rubber hoses etc. - this is useful stuff and the best deposits of it worldwide are near Wareham in Dorset and Bovey Tracey and Petrockstowe in Devon where it is both mined and ‘quarried’. This excellent value book describes the background to this industry, how the clay is extracted and transported, and what it is used for. 52 pages. 61 illustrations. Paperback. The Ball Clay Heritage Society Add to shopping basket

Images of Yorkshire Coal Williams o £ 19.99 o (B) Contains around 300 B & W photos of the infrastructure, mostly above ground, of the pits of the great Yorkshire coalfield, plus some photos of men, winding-engines and archive photos. Whilst a fascinating archive, this is also a tad depressing, the bulk of the photographs being taken in the 1990s as the pits were being run down - in some case they post-date actual closure. 192 well produced pages. Hardbound. Landmark Publishing Add to shopping basket

The Lakes & Cumbria Mines Guide Tyler • £12.99 • (D) If anyone could write a guide to the mine sites around Cumbria it is Ian Tyler, and this is simply the best, not surprising as Ian has trod these paths many times. Most of the sites are identified by NGR references and brief descriptions of how to find them within each geographical area, but many of these are also covered by sketch maps, which link to described walks. And there are hints on tips on how to explore these workings safely. So this book can be a practical guide as you explore the sites, or a wonderful help to dreaming if you prefer your exploring to be armchair based! 207 pages. No photographs. Paperback. Blue Rock Publications Add to shopping basket

Carrock and the Mines of Skiddaw and Blencathra Tyler • £17.99 • (A) This book covers all the mines and trials in the areas of Carrock, Skiddaw and Blencathra to the northeast and east of Keswick. These workings yielded diverse minerals - lead, zinc and wolfram, from which tungsten is obtained, amongst others. Also covered is the long history of Threlkeld Mine where workings started in th 1600s. As with all Ian Tyler’s books the subject is well researched, and presented in an erudite and enjoyable style. 272 pages. Around 200 B & W photos and other illustrations. Paperback. Blue Rock Publications Add to shopping basket

Goldscope and the Mines of Derwent Fells Tyler • £18.99 • (A) Covered here are the mines and trials in an area essentially to the west of Keswick, around Bassenthwaite Lake in Cumbria. As usual in this area, the minerals mined were varied, including here lead, silica and especially copper. Indeed Goldscope, which forms a good chunk of this book, was where the German miners brought in by Elizabeth the First, really made their mark. As with other Ian Tyler books, the stories are well researched and told, and you also get many photos, often underground, drawings, mine cross-sections and the like. Over 150 here, in 300 paperback pages. Blue Rock Publications. Add to shopping basket

The Great Laxey Mine Scarffe • £19.99 • (A) Mining on the Isle of Man had a long history but, as elsewhere, really flourished during the 18th and 19th centuries, with advances in both machinery and prospecting. Amongst the greatest mines on the Island, the Great Laxey produced lead and zinc ores in hugely profitable quantities from up to nearly 2000 feet underground for many years, but what made it unique was that it used water power, rather than steam, to power its machinery, and then used ‘live’ steam locomotives inside the mine. Its main waterwheel - the ‘Lady Isabella’ was the greatest waterwheel in the world, and still is, as it is fully restored and working, even if the mine is long gone. And now the railway has been recreated with two working copies of the original engines. It is an exceptional story, and very well told here, in a quite superb book which, on quality, weight or size grounds, is exceptional value. 232 large format pages. Vast numbers of illustrations, colour and B & W, plus drawings and maps. Hardbound. Manx Heritage Foundation Add to shopping basket

Slate Quarrying in Wales Richards • £ 8.95 • (F) Interesting history of the slate quarrying industry as it developed throughout the Principality, mainly, but not exclusively, in the north. In particular it covers the development of mechanisation, both in the actual quarrying process, and the transportation of the finished article. 32 B&W photos. 1 map. 256 page paperback. Carreg Gwalch Add to shopping basket

Gazeteer of Slate Quarrying in Wales Richards • £ 8.95 • (E) Companion to the book above, this lists all slate quarries in Wales, grouped in 14 areas, giving map reference, brief history, and details what is still to be seen. Basic maps for each of the 14 areas. If you want to explore the remains of the slate industry, this is essential. 350 un-illustrated pages. Paperback. Carreg Gwalch Add to shopping basket

Cwm Gwyrfai - the quarries of The North Wales Narrow Gauge and the Welsh Highland Railways Jones & Richards • £ 9.95 • (D) Here are the detail histories of the forty quarries which operated, to a lesser or greater extent, along the line of the Welsh Highland Railway - mostly close to the old NWNG. Less commercially attractive than quarries in the area towards Blaneau Ffestiniog, the survival of some of these was down entirely to the arrival of the railway. Huge amount of information in 368 pages. 30 photos, plus maps. Paperback. Carreg Gwalch Add to shopping basket

One Saturday Afternoon Meurig Evans • £ 9.95 • (F) The Albion Colliery at Cilfynydd near Pontypridd was a typical nineteenth century South Wales coal mine until the 23rd June 1894, when an explosion deep underground resulted in the death of 290 men and boys. Possibly the disaster was inevitable, given the risks taken by men and management to maximise output, but it was disaster on a large scale, and the story, including the Inquest and other Court proceedings, plus analysis with the benefit of hindsight, makes fascinating reading, not least because the community of Cilfynydd survived the disaster, and the Albion Colliery itself survived until the 1960s, despite a second smaller explosion in 1906. 100 well produced and illustrated pages - some photos in colour. Paperback. Pontypridd Museum Add to shopping basket

The Iron Industry of the Forest of Dean Meredith • £15.99 • (E) See main entry in “History of Engineering” section; this contains quite a lot on iron mining in the area. Add to shopping basket

Cornish Mining Earl • £ 7.99 • (F) This excellent book describes “The Techniques of Metal Mining in the West of England, Past and Present” in considerable and fascinating detail; it is almost a treatise on hard rock mining. Originally published in 1968, this revised and up-dated edition appeared in 1994 but is sadly out of date in that there is no “Present” mining in Cornwall, although South Crofty is a candidate for re-opening if the price of tin rises to a price which could justify this. Great book for anybody interesting in knowing exactly how the tin or copper was extracted. 121 pages. 17 B & W and 4 colour photos, numerous drawings and diagrams. Paperback. Cornish Hillside Publications Add to shopping basket

Cornish Explosives Earl • £35.00 • (A) Giving its mining importance, the fact that Cornwall also had a major explosive manufacturing industry comes as no surprise, and this is the second (revised and enlarged) history of this industry describes the types of explosives, the manufacturers, the machinery used in the various processes, and the people involved. An interesting and informative read, and a very well produced book of 365 well illustrated pages. Hardbound. The Trevithick Society. Add to shopping basket

Bickford Smith & Co. Limited 1831 – 1931 • £14.99 • (F) Exceptionally well done, limited edition, facsimile reprint of the book issued by Bickford, Smith & Co. Limited, by then part of the ICI Group, to celebrate the centenary of the granting of a Patent to William Bickford for the world’s first safety fuse. As well as saving innumerable miners and quarrymens lives, the firm of Bickford Smith became hugely successful making this essentially simple item, with subsidiary companies in France, Germany, Austria and the U.S.A. Notwithstanding its self-congratulatory tone, there is a lot of interest in this attractive oddity. 28 text pages and 12 pages of b&w photos, mainly of management, but also the Company’s factory at Tuckingmill, Cornwall. Hardbound. The Trevithick Society Add to shopping basket

Princes of the Working Valley Buckley • £ 9.99 • (E) Here content from the Day & Night Book of Two Dolcoath Mine Captains for 1822-23 is reproduced and commented on by Allen Buckley, himself a former miner. 'Captains' were the shift foremen - at least in Cornish mines, and the 'Day & Night Book' informed the recipient of what had been done on the previous shift, what needed doing, what problems had arisen, and anything else he might need to know. Dolcoath was one of the most famous of all Cornish mines, and by the time the Book was being written was already over 80 years old, and working down around 900 feet. The ongoing comments between the young William Petherick and the older James Thomas open a fascinating window, both technical and social, into a era when Cornish mines, whilst very advanced technically for the period, were extremely dangerous places, and bred an extremely independent and tough breed of miner. 135 pages. 16 pages of illustrations, maps and copies of pages from the original book. Paperback.Truran Add to shopping basket

Painting a Mine with Light Peck • £ 6.95 • (G) John Peck was appointed photographer to the newly reopened Wheal Jane Mine, near Truro in 1972, a position he held until its final closure in 1991. Here are 56 b&w and 26 colour photographs he took during this time, the majority underground, and each with an informative caption from both a mining and photographic angle. 56 high quality pages. Paperback. Peck Publications Add to shopping basket

Hazards & Heroes in Cornish Mines ed. Buckley • £ 3.99 • (G) Here are various tales of disasters, hazards and heroes over the years in various Cornish mines, all serving to illustrate just how dangerous a place mines were, even in the modern era. 48 pages. 10 larger b&w photos. Schematic diagram of a Cornish mine. Softcover. Tor Mark Add to shopping basket

Tin Mining “Holman” Crushing & Dressing Plant • £ 5.99 • (F) Holman Bros of Camborne were one of the major suppliers of mining equipment in Cornwall and exported their products worldwide. This Catalogue describes and illustrates their range of crushing and dressing machinery - Grizzleys, Crushers, Stampers, Elevators, Jigging Machines, Grit Mills, Tube Mills, Sand and Slime Tables, Concentrators, Revolving Tables, Dipper wheels, Calciners and the like. This facsimile isn’t dated but, at a guess, dates from between the wars. 36 larger format pages. Softcover. The Trevithick Society Add to shopping basket

Mining in Cornwall Camborne to Redruth Bullen • £ 9.99 • (E) Here are 240 archive photographs from the great days of Cornish mining, all taken at mines in Cornwall’s industrial heartland - Carn Camborne, Dulcoath, New Dolcoath, Cookskitchen, Tincroft, Carn Brea and others. Fascinating details, especially in the Burrow’s underground photographs, a few of which are included. 127 page paperback. Landmark Publishing Add to shopping basket

FILMS!

40’s Britain - at the Coal Face App 60 mins • DVD £19.99 Previously offered on video, here are two interesting B & W films. The first, and shorter, is Rhondda and Wye from 1948, which contrasts the pastoral Wye Valley with the coal-mining Rhondda Valley. The ‘main feature’ is The Cumberland Story, shot by Humphrey Jennings and released in 1947, which tells the story of the mechanisation of a Workington pit during WWII, when the workings were extended under the sea. It also covers the changes to working practices, which the mechanisation entailed in the then private mining industry, and how they led to nationalisation. Lots of underground footage, and an enjoyable couple of films. Add to shopping basket