Belidor (Bernard Forest de) Architecture Hydraulique, ou l'Art de Conduire, d'Elever, et de Menager les Eaux pour les Differens Besoins de la Vie, 4 vol., first edition, titles in red & black, half-title and engraved portrait in vol.3, 2 engraved frontispieces and 219 folding plates & plans, engraved vignettes as chapter headings, woodcut ornaments and initials, some light browning to text but plates very clean, a good copy in contemporary mottled calf, rubbed, a little worn at corners and edges, rebacked preserving old gilt spines, [Bibliotheca Mechanica p.29], 4to, Paris, Charles-Antoine-Jombert, 1737-53.

⁂ A study of enormous value to 18th century engineers. Belidor's was the first work of its kind to apply integral calculus to practical problems. It concentrates on civil engineering including transport, shipbuilding, canals, lighthouses, fountains, windmills etc., providing an important survey on the eve of the Industrial Revolution.