Previous image preload Next image preload
Back to catalog
Lot 166
image_0 image_1 image_2
Former President Hoover Sends General Groves his Famous Work, "De Re Metallic"
Former President Hoover Sends General Groves his Famous Work, "De Re Metallic"
image_0 image_1 image_2
Description:

Hoover Herbert

Herbert Hoover Sends General Groves his Famous Work, “De Re Metallica”

 

“I am sending you a fat book which you are not expected to read.”

 

HERBERT HOOVER, Typed Letter Signed, to Leslie R. Groves, February 24, 1960, New York, NY. 1 p., 7.25" x 10.5".  Includes copy of Groves’s Typed Letter to Hoover, March 4, 1960. Very good.

 

Excerpts

Hoover to Groves:

“I am sending you a fat book which you are not expected to read. It is for ornamental purposes and an expression of good will.”

 

Groves to Hoover:

“I am deeply touched and highly gratified over your gift to me of the inscribed copy of De Re Metallica. I do not promise to read it all, for my field was not mining engineering, however, the pages I have read have impressed me with the capacity of the writer and the erudition of the translators.”

 

Historical Background

Georg Bauer (1494-1555), a German metallurgist and “father of mineralogy,” wrote a book entitled De re metallica libri xii (On the Nature of Metals). The book was first published in 1556, the year after his death, under his Latinized pen name of Georgius Agricola. The book contains a preface and twelve chapters, labeled books I to XII, and it is a systematic treatise on mining, illustrated by many woodcuts. It shows processes used to extract ores from the ground and metals from ore. It remained the definitive text on mining for nearly two centuries.

 

In 1912, Mining Magazine of London published an English translation of De re metallica by subscription. The translators were Herbert Hoover, a mining engineer, and his wife Lou Henry Hoover, a geologist and Latinist. The translation was praised for the clarity of its language and for its extensive footnotes that detail the classical references to mining and metals Agricola employed. Among their challenges was the invention by Agricola of several hundred Latin expressions to describe medieval German mining terms unknown to classical Latin.

 

In 1950, Dover Publications of New York published a new edition of the Hoovers’ translation of De Re Metallica, and it is likely this edition that Hoover sent to Groves.

 

 

Herbert Hoover (1874-1964) was born in Iowa into a Quaker family, but both of his parents died before he was ten years old. After living with relatives in Iowa and Oregon, Hoover became one of the first students to attend newly established Stanford University, from which he graduated in 1895. Hoover worked as a mining engineer in California, Australia, and China. He became an independent mining consultant in 1908 and traveled the world until the outbreak of World War I, building his reputation and fortune. When the war began, he helped organize the return of 120,000 Americans from Europe and spearheaded humanitarian relief efforts in Belgium, from his administrative base in London. After the United States entered the war, President Woodrow Wilson appointed Hoover to head the U.S. Food Administration. He lobbied for the job and agreed to accept no salary. After the war, the U.S. Food Administration became the American Relief Administration, which, at its height, fed 10.5 million people daily. Elected President of the United States in 1928, Hoover took office less than eight months before the Wall Street Crash of 1929 plunged the nation into the Great Depression. Franklin D. Roosevelt defeated Hoover’s 1932 bid for reelection. After he left office, Hoover was a harsh critic of Roosevelt’s New Deal and U.S. entry into World War II. He particularly opposed an alliance with the Soviet Union though he worked to provide relief to countries in Nazi-occupied Europe. After the war, he became friends with President Harry S. Truman despite their ideological differences. He helped organize a school meals program in West Germany and chaired a commission to reorganize the executive departments in the U.S. government.

 

Leslie R. Groves Jr. (1896-1970) was a United States Army General with the Corps of Engineers who oversaw the construction of the Pentagon and directed the Manhattan Project that developed the atomic bomb during World War II. Born in New York to a Protestant pastor who became an army chaplain, Groves graduated from the United States Military Academy in 1918 in a course shortened because of World War I. He entered the Corps of Engineers and gained promotions to major by 1940. In 1941, he was charged with overseeing the construction of the Pentagon, the largest office building in the world, with more than five million square feet. Disappointed that he had not received a combat assignment, Groves instead took charge of the Manhattan Project, designed to develop an atomic bomb. He continued nominally to supervise the Pentagon project to avoid suspicion, gained promotion to brigadier general, and began his work in September 1942. The project headquarters was initially in the War Department building in Washington, but in August 1943, moved to Oak Ridge, Tennessee. He and physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer selected the site in Los Alamos, New Mexico, for a laboratory, and Groves pushed successfully for Oppenheimer to be placed in charge. Groves was in charge of obtaining critical uranium ores internationally and collecting military intelligence on Axis atomic research. Promoted to major general in March 1944, Groves received the Distinguished Service Medal for his work on the Manhattan Project after the war. In 1947, Groves became chief of the Armed Forces Special Weapons Project. He received a promotion to lieutenant general in January 1948, just days before meeting with Army Chief of Staff Dwight D. Eisenhower, who reviewed a long list of complaints against Groves. Assured that he would not become Chief of Engineers, Groves retired in February 1948. From 1948 to 1961, he was a vice president of Sperry Rand, an equipment and electronics firm. After retirement, he served as president of the West Point alumni association and wrote a book on the Manhattan Project, published in 1962.

 

 

WE PROVIDE IN-HOUSE SHIPPING WORLDWIDE.

Accepted Forms of Payment:

American Express, Discover, MasterCard, Money Order / Cashiers Check, Paypal, Personal Check, Visa, Wire Transfer

Shipping

We do our own in-house worldwide shipping!

Applicable shipping and handling charges will be added to the invoice. We offer several shipping options, and remain one of the few auction houses who proudly provides professional in-house shipping as an option to our clients. All items will ship with signature required, and full insurance. Most items are sent via Federal Express, with P. O. Box addresses being sent through USPS. We insure through Berkley Asset Protection with rates of $.70 per $100 of value, among the lowest insurance rates in the industry. Our shipping department cameras document every package, both outgoing and incoming, for maximum security. In addition, we compare our shipping and handling rates against those of other auction houses, to ensure that our charges are among the lowest in the trade.

Upon winning your item(s), you will receive an invoice with our in-house shipping and handling fees included. ***We will ship to the address as it appears on your invoice, unless you inform us otherwise, immediately upon your receipt of invoice***

Third Party Shipping Option: If a third party shipper is preferred, the buyer is responsible for contacting them directly to make shipping arrangements. For your convenience, we have provided some recommended shippers. For your protection, we will require a signed release from you, confirming your authorization for us to release your lots to your specified third party Please copy and paste this following link into your browser: http://universityarchives.com/UserFiles/ShippingInfo.pdf. At that point, our responsibility and insurance coverage for your item(s) ceases. Items picked up by third party shippers are required to pay Connecticut sales tax. Items requiring third party shipping due to being oversized, fragile or bulky will be denoted in the item description.

Please see our full terms and conditions for names of suggested third party shippers.


After payment has been made in full, University Archives will ship your purchase within 5 business days following receipt of full payment for item.Packages shipped internationally will have full value declared on shipping form. International buyers will be responsible for any customs fees incurred.

Please remember that the buyer is responsible for all shipping costs from University Archives' offices in Westport, CT to the buyer's door. Please see full Terms and Conditions of Sale.

May 15, 2019 10:30 AM EDT
Wilton, CT, US

University Archives

You agree to pay a buyer's premium of 25% and any applicable taxes and shipping.

View full terms and conditions

Bid Increments
From: To: Increments:
$0 $99 $10
$100 $299 $20
$300 $499 $25
$500 $999 $50
$1,000 $1,999 $100
$2,000 $2,999 $200
$3,000 $4,999 $250
$5,000 $9,999 $500
$10,000 $19,999 $1,000
$20,000 $49,999 $2,500
$50,000 + $5,000