Curr (John) The Coal Viewer, and Engine Builder's Practical Companion, first edition, 5 folding engraved plates, tables, bookplate to pastedowns, lightly browned, some light soiling to title, scattered spotting to plates, front endpaper working loose, hinges cracked but holding firm, 19th century marbled boards, rebacked and recornered in later calf, old covers rubbed, spine lightly sunned, Sheffield, for the Author, by John Northall, [Kress B3373; Ottley 172], 4to, 1797.

⁂ Possibly the first printed account of an iron railway. John Curr, a mining engineer, made great contributions to the development of underground haulage in South Yorkshire collieries during the Industrial Revolution, introducing the flanged wheel still used on modern railways. One copy with an imprint of 1796 is recorded at auction (Sotheby's, 1974), this unrecorded on ESTC and WorldCat. The title-page was seemingly reset in 1797 to include a list of booksellers in London, Newcastle, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Shrewsbury and Manchester.