Fine Printed Books & Manuscripts, Including Americana

2 parts in one, folio. 32 engraved plates, some folding. (Some very light spotting.) Modern vellum.

FIRST EDITION, with instructive copper plates of watermills and wind turbines, water towers, pumping stations, suction pipes, bridges and individual building elements as well as some construction machines such as cranes, pile drivers and excavators. "It is an undeniable truth that the art of hydraulic engineering, of directing water and of raising it to the surface for all kinds of necessities, constitutes a considerable part of human activity; so that it can be brought to a greater degree of perfection through art and science" (p.2).