(Born: Stockholm, Sweden, 12 August 1814; Died: Stockholm, Sweden, 1 December 1869) Swedish mineralogist & geologist.

Graduated 1833 from Uppsala and studied at the Mining Academy at Fahlun 1837-38. He studied under Berzelius the winter 1839-40, and continued after this chemical mineralogical investigations in his own private laboratory. He became an instructor at the Mining Academy in Fahlun 1850. Erdmann turned more and more towards geology and became the first leader of Sveriges Geologiska Undersökning (SGU), the geological survey of Sweden, that he founded 1858. From this time on he devoted himself to the organization of the survey and initiated and outlined the geological mapping of Sweden. Apart from the purely mineralogical works below Erdmann wrote monograph like articles on some of the mineralogically interesting ore-fields in Sweden that were published in the Transactions of the Royal Swedish Academy of Science: Försök till en geognostisk-mineralogisk beskrifning öfver Tunabergs socken (1848), Dannemora jernmalmsfält i Upsala län (1850) and Utö jernmalmsfält i Stockholms län (1854). Moreover, he published also a handbook in petrology Vägledning till bergarternas kännedom (1855). \Jkjellman

Biographical references: Barr, Index to Biographical Fragments, 1973: 80. • Lambrecht & Quenstedt, Catalogus, 1938: 130. • Nordisk Familjebok: 7, sp. 744-6. • Personal communication [Entry by Johann Kjellman]. • Poggendorff: 1, col. 675 & 3, 414. • Sarjeant, Geologists, 1980: 2, 963. • Svenskt Biografiskt Handlexikon: 1, 305-6. • Svenskt Biografiskt Lexikon: 14, 24-6.

1. Swedish, 1849.
Försök till en geognostisk-mineralogisk beskrifning öfver Tunabergs socken i Södermanland, med särskildt afseende på der belägne grufvor; 1849.

8°: 94 p., 6 colored maps (all folding). Very scarce.

Bibliographical references: BL [no copy listed].

2. Swedish, 1853 [First edition].
Lärbok | i | Mineralogien | Af | Axel Erdmann, | Led. af K. Vet. Akad. | [rule] | Med 260 i Texten intryckta Trädsnitt. | [rule] | Stockholm, | Zacharias Hæggström, | 1853.

8°: π⁸ 1-30⁸; 248l.; [i]-xv, [1] errata, [1]-480 p., index. Page size: 220 x 130 mm. uncut.

Contents: [i-ii], Title page, verso blank.; [iii], Dedication.; [iv], Blank.; [v]-x, "Företal."; xi-xv, Table of contents.; [1 pg], Errata.; [1]-472, Text.; 475-480, Index.

Scarce. The book was written to fill the need of a swedish handbook in mineralogy for higher education. Erdmann was well aware of the need for such a book and fit for the job as he at the time supervised the mineralogy, geology and mining courses at the Mining Academy in Fahlun, his former school. The last swedish books in this category were the ones by Retzius (1795) and the uncompleted by Schwartz (1803), reminds us the author in the forword. It is divided in a general and a descriptive part. The first part is divided in the egenskaper and a short general discussion on systematics, the descriptive part is based on the system of Berzelius. \JKjellman

Bibliographical references: BL [no copy listed]. • Dana's 7th (Bibliography): 70. • Förf, Titel. år.

3. Swedish, 1860 [2nd edition].
Lärobok | i | Mineralogien | af | Axel Erdmann, | [ornate rule] | Med 260 i texten intryckta trädsnitt. | [ornate rule] | andra omarbetade och tillökta upplagan. | [ornate rule] | Stockholm, | Zacharias Hæggströms Förlag, | 1860.

8°: π⁴ 1-37⁸ 38¹; 301l.; [i]-[viii], [1]-594 p., 260 illus.

Contents: [i-ii], Title page, verso "Stockholm, tryckt hos J. &A. Riis, 1860."; iii-vii, Table of contents.; [viii], Errata.; [1]-583, Text.; [584], Blank.; 585-594, Index.

Scarce. The text follows the same outline as the first edition but the descriptive part is doubled in size. \Jkjellman

Bibliographical references: BL [no copy listed]. • Förf, Titel. år.

4. Swedish, 1855.
Vägledning | till | Bergarternas kännedom, | med särskild hänsyn till | Sveriges geologiska förhållanden | och med fästadt afseende tillika | på deras allmänna praktiska nytta och användbarhet | för | konstnärer, byggmästare, landtbrukare, o.s.v. | af | Axel Erdmann, | [...one line of titles and memberships...] | [rule] | Med i texten intryckta trädsnitt. | [ornate rule] | Stockholm. | Tryckt hos Isaac Marcus, | 1855.

8°: π⁶ 1-13⁸; 110l.; [i]-xii, [1]-207, [1] p., 35 illus.

Contents: [i-ii], Title page, verso blank.; [iii-iv], Forword, verso blank.; [v]-xii, Table of contents.; [1]-3, Introduction.; 4-196, Text; [197]-207, Index; [1 pg], blank.

Very scarce. An early work on petrology and petrography studies of Sweden. \JKjellman

Bibliographical references: NUC. • SWIM.

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