BELIDOR (Bernard Forest de) - Lot 374

BELIDOR (Bernard Forest de) Architecture hydraulique, ou l'art de conduire, d'élever et de ménager les eaux pour différens besoins de la vie Première partie - Hydraulic architecture. Seconde partie. Qui comprend l'art de diriger les eaux de la mer & des rivières. Paris, Jombert, 1750-82. 4 volumes in-4: 5f. (including frontispiece), XII, 412pp. (44 plates) / 4f., 423pp., XXVIII (55 plates) / 4f., XIV, 1f., XXXI, (1) (63 plates) / Frontispiece, VIII, 480pp., XXXVII, (2) (60 plates). A total of 222 plates, all folding (and 2 frontispieces). Pages 361-362 of volume III are missing, but foliation is correct; pagination or printer's error? ½ marbled tawny contemporary basane, spine ribbed and ornamented, red title-pieces and tomaisons, accidents to the headpieces, a cracked bit at the head, red edges. One of the best works on civil mechanics. The author sets out the principles of mechanics, describing and calculating various types of mills for sawing (wheat, wood, marble, gunpowder manufacture, etc.), as well as machines for raising water and all the ways of conducting and distributing it. Bernard Forest de Bélidor published several scientific manuals, two of which brought him fame: La Science des ingénieurs (1729) and Architecture hydraulique (presented work) (Brunet I, 740).