In 1761 a book in French was published titled Le lac merveilleux, ou Description du lac de Czirknitz en Carniole, et de ses principales singularités phisiques (Slovene: A wonderful lake or Description of Lake Cerknica in Carniola and its physical peculiarities). This year, on the 340th anniversary of Steinberg's birth and the 260th anniversary of his death, the Jožeta Udoviča Cerknica Library and Maks Viktor publishing house published a translation of this work, translated by Špela Žakelj.
In the book, in addition to the summary of Steinberg's text you can also view two copperplate engravings, an index, and the forewords were contributed by crystallographer Dr. Franci Gabrovšek and historian Dr. Dragica Čeč. The book is available for purchase at the Jožeta Udoviča Cerknica Library.
Steinberg's etchings
Franc Anton Steinberg (1684–1765) moved to Cerknica in his childhood when his family sold the Kalc manor. Later he settled permanently on a farmstead near Cerknica, named after the church and the Mary Magdalene brook.
A notable phenomenon at Lake Cerknica, when the water did not dry up for as long as seven years (between 1707 and 1714), prompted him to meticulously record the changes of the lake. As a mathematician, mechanic, and painter, he studied its functioning and also depicted it.
In retirement, he again dedicated himself to researching the Lake Cerknica and completed the manuscript of his work Gründliche Nachricht von dem in dem Inner-Crain liegenden Czirknizer See 1758 (slov. Thorough report on the Cerknica Lake located in Notranjska). In it he describes in detail the functioning of the lake and its changes. The first draft of the report Steinberg wrote as commissioner for provisioning and repairs of the state roads in Notranjska. Later, during his permanent residence by the Lake Cerknica and in Ljubljana, he further supplemented it. A 235-page report, illustrated with 34 copper engravings, is almost seventy years after Valvasos first extensive work devoted solely to the intermittently drying Lake Cerknica.
You can view more engravings at this link. (archive eNotranjska)
