Henry William Bristow's English translation of Louis Simonin's La vie souterraine, ou les mines et les mineurs (1867) appeared in this lavishly produced edition the following year with 166 wood engravings, 20 colored maps, and 12 chromolithographic plates. The Othmer Library copy is an author's presentation copy to the English metallurgist, mineralogist and geologist Hilary Bauerman (1835-1909). Bristow was a fellow of the Royal Society and director of the Geographical Survey for England and Wales (1872-1888).

Simonin was an 1852 graduate of the school of mines of St. Etienne, held positions in France and Italy, and travelled widely visiting mines and mining areas around the world including the United States. His profusely illustrated book covered all aspects of mines and mining, and was particularly evocative of the adventure of "underground life," so much so that his book was one of the primary technical references for Emile Zola's novel Germinal (1885).