75/2184 [Civil engineering]. Bélidor, (B.F. de). Architecture hydraulique, ou l'art de conduire, d'élever, et de menager les eaux pour les différens besoins de la vie. Paris, C.-A. Jombert, 1737-1753, 2 parts in 4 vols., 2 engr. frontisp., 1 woodcut and 3 diff. engr. title-vignettes, 219 fold. maps/ plans/ plates, some headpieces/ ills., contemp. unif. calf w. gilt spines, 4to.

- Corners showing; backstrips w. some loss of gilding due to dry leather; joints starting/ splitting; binding worn. Despite external defects, a fine copy.

= Poggendorff I, p.138; Kat. Orn. Berlin 3555; DSB I, p.582; Roberts & Trent p.29-30: "Bélidor's work is one of the earliest scientific books in the field of engineering. Concentrating on civil construction, he considers transportation, shipbuilding, waterways and watersupply, ornamental fountains, windmills and pumps, epitomizing their state on the eve of the Industrial Revolution." Bélidor was the first to use differential and integral equations for the solution of hydrotechnical problems. The work remained the standard authority on practical water engineering long after most of the techniques it describes became obsolete. SEE ILLUSTRATION PLATE LXXXIX.