Mineral Kingdom Journal — Dr. A. Schleyer 1935 Mineralogie Pyrite Cinnabar Galena Chromolithograph

There is a particular challenge in illustrating minerals. A butterfly can be pinned and drawn; a plant can be pressed and painted. But a mineral specimen — with its metallic lustre, its crystalline geometry, its play of light across faceted surfaces — resists the illustrator’s hand in ways that other natural history subjects do not. The sheen of galena, the scarlet intensity of cinnabar, the brassy glitter of pyrite in its perfect pyritohedra — these are qualities that depend on light and angle and the physical properties of the mineral surface. And yet, in the chromolithographic plates of Dr. A. Schleyer’s Mineralogie, published in 1935 as part of Das Naturreich in Bildern, something remarkable was achieved: thirty plates with hand-applied metallic finishes that rendered the mineral kingdom with a precision and visual richness that photography of the era could not match.

The front cover carries Tafel V — six metallic ore minerals documented with Schleyer’s celebrated precision: pyrite in its classic pyritohedron form, marcasite in cockscomb orthorhombic crystals, cobaltite in silver-white metallic habit, nickeline in its characteristic copper-red, and arsenopyrite in sharp wedge-shaped monoclinic prisms. The back cover carries Tafel IV — four sulphide minerals that shaped human history: sphalerite in resinous honey-yellow forms (the primary ore of zinc), galena in brilliant lead-grey cubes with perfect cubic cleavage, galena over iron spar and quartz from Neudorf, and three distinct forms of cinnabar in vivid scarlet and brick-red — the only major ore of mercury, historically prized as the pigment vermilion. Together they wrap the journal in a complete panorama of the metallic mineral world, illustrated at the height of German natural history chromolithography.

Product Details

• Format: Hardcover journal
• Pages: 150 lined pages (75 sheets) with perforations for easy removal
• Binding: Casewrap sewn binding — flexible and lay-flat
• Dimensions: 5.75 × 8 inches
• Weight: 100 g
• Cover: Matte laminated full-wrap print
• Front cover: Dr. A. Schleyer, Tafel V — pyrite, marcasite, cobaltite, nickeline, arsenopyrite (1935)
• Back cover: Dr. A. Schleyer, Tafel IV — sphalerite, galena, cinnabar (1935)

Perfect For

• Mineralogy collectors and geology enthusiasts
• Lovers of pyrite, cinnabar, galena, and metallic crystal specimens
• Admirers of German scientific illustration and natural history
• Those drawn to the intersection of science, art, and crystalline beauty
• Rockhounds and mineral collectors
• A thoughtful gift for geologists and lovers of rare illustrated atlases

The Story Behind the Plates

The German tradition of natural history illustration, the challenge of rendering metallic lustre in print, and why cinnabar’s scarlet was one of the most prized — and dangerous — pigments in human history — read the full story on our blog →