Reinhold Angerstein (1758)

This report was compiled by Reinhold Angerstein (1718–1760), a mining and metallurgical expert employed by the Swedish state during the eighteenth century. Born into a family with interests in mining and iron production, Angerstein entered the service of Bergskollegium and developed a reputation as a skilled observer of mining, metallurgy and industrial organisation. During extensive journeys through Europe in the 1750s he examined mining districts, ironworks and manufacturing centres on behalf of the Swedish authorities, producing a series of detailed reports that rank among the most important technical travel accounts of the period.

Unlike several of Angerstein's travel journals, which were structured as daily records of movement and observation, the present manuscript is organised as a systematic industrial survey. It examines the iron-producing regions on both sides of the Rhine from Lake Constance to Koblenz and, in a second part, the ironworks of the Moselle valley from Lorraine to Cologne. The report is divided geographically into a succession of regional chapters, each treating mines, furnaces, forges, steelworks and manufacturing establishments in a standardised and comparative manner.

The principal focus of the manuscript is iron production. Angerstein describes ironworks in Switzerland, Alsace, Baden, Württemberg, Lorraine, Nassau, the Siegerland, the county of Mark, Bergisches Land and numerous smaller territories along the Rhine and Moselle. For each district he records the number of furnaces and forges, annual production figures, prices, labour costs, charcoal consumption, transport charges and commercial conditions. Particularly detailed sections concern the iron-producing districts of Nassau and Siegerland, the steelworks of the Siegerland, the iron and steel manufactories of the county of Mark, and the highly specialised metalworking industries of Bergisches Land.

A distinctive feature of the report is its close attention to metallurgical processes and industrial machinery. Angerstein provides detailed descriptions of blast furnaces, finery forges, Walloon forges, steel furnaces, rolling and slitting works, wire-drawing mills, plate mills, tilt hammers and water-powered machinery. He discusses ore preparation, charcoal manufacture, smelting practice, raw-steel production, refining techniques, iron-wire manufacture and the production of a wide range of finished goods, including tools, blades, firearms, sheet iron and steel products.

Although principally concerned with iron and steel, the report also contains extensive observations on other extractive and industrial activities. Angerstein visited silver, copper, lead and cobalt mines; examined saltworks, paper mills, brass works and glassworks; and recorded information on agriculture, forestry, transport systems and regional trade. He was particularly interested in the relationship between natural resources, manufacturing capacity and commercial organisation, and frequently compared foreign practices with conditions in Sweden.

The manuscript offers an exceptionally comprehensive survey of the iron and steel economies of western and south-western Germany, eastern France and neighbouring regions in the mid-eighteenth century. Combining statistical precision with detailed technical observation, it illuminates the industrial landscape encountered by one of Sweden's foremost mining experts during a period of rapid development in European metallurgy.

Further reading:
* R. R. Angerstein's Illustrated Travel Diary 1753–1755: Industry in England and Wales from a Swedish Perspective, trans. Torsten Berg and Peter Berg (London: Science Museum, 2001).
Göran Rydén and Anders Florén, “A Journey to the Market Society: A Swedish Pre-Industrial Spy in the Middle of the Eighteenth Century”, in R. Björk and K. Molin (eds.), Societies Made Up of History: Essays in Honour of Rolf Torstendahl (Uppsala, 1999).
"Reinhold Reinholdsson Angerstein", Svenskt biografiskt lexikon, vol. 2.