Report on Water Power. Report of the Committee of the Franklin Institute of Pennsylvania, appointed May, 1829, to ascertain by experiment the value of Water as a Moving Power. [Philadelphia: 1831]. Well, obviously water power did have value as a means of motive power, as a century's worth of textile and other mills will amply attest... The 14 members of the Committee spent about a year and a half designing and constructing the apparatus to hold the trials, and running the trials, after which this detailed report, chock full of useful tables, was issued. As the author notes: "The importance of accurate knowledge in relation to the effect of water as a moving power and the defective state of information upon that subject, induced the Franklin Institute, in the spring of 1829, to determine that a series of experiments should be made, under its direction, upon a force of water applied by wheels the experiments to be in detail, and upon a scale calculated to give confidence in the practical nature of the results... There is perhaps no subject connected with the extensive branch of mechanics, for which theory has done so little, as for that which consider the effect of water upon wheels the different theories advanced are at variances with each other, and with practice, so that the candid theorist confesses that the circumstances, attending the action, are of so complicated a nature as to baffle his powers of investigation. Experiment, then, can alone guide to results worthy of confidence". The Franklin Institute was founded in 1824 to encourage the propagation of scientific and technical knowledge in the spirit of Benjamin Franklin. The Institute sponsored a series of industrial exhibitions from 1924 to 1838 and awarded gold, silver and bronze medals for technological innovations. Softcover. 5.5"x8.75", 136 pages, plus 8 engraved plates, three of them folding. Bound in new paper covers text with some spotting and soil, some plates with some foxing, etc. OCLC locates one copy.

Inventory #: 5606 Price: $ 750.00

Transactions of the American Ceramic Society, comprising the papers and discussions of the First Annual Meeting, held at Columbus, Ohio, February 6-8, 1899 [with] the Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Seventeenth and Eighteenth Transactions. Columbus: 1899-1916. The first six years Transactions of this important body, with many technical papers covering all aspects of the American ceramics industry, including machinery, glazes, clays, manufacturing, and more. Bound a bit oddly, with transactions 1,2 & 3 in a single binding, Transactions 4 & 6 in a single binding, and Transactions 5, 17 & 18 each in its own binding. Hardcovers. Bound in 5 volumes. 6"x9", 3,397 pages, black & white plates (several folding) and line illustrations. Covers with some soil and wear, hinges almost all broken and contents detaching from the covers. Contents mostly clean and fine.

Inventory #: 32591 Price: $ 275.00

Audsley, George Ashdown & Berthold Audsley. The Art of Polychromatic & Decorative Turning. A Practical Manual for the Professional and Amateur Turner. Boston Small, Maynard and Company: 1916. A book with technical instructions for the creation of decorative effects using different-colored woods in lathe-turning. The first portion of the text deals with colored woods suitable for use, the next portions with the processes of studding, lamination, geometrical inlaying, and practical applications. George Ashdown Audsley was an architect and influential Victorian designer, and an authority on Japanese arts. Hardcover. 5.5"x8.5", [vi], 109 pages with 4 line illustrations, plus a color frontispiece and 20 b/w plates. Publisher's red cloth with gilt title covers slightly unevenly faded, a little rubbed. Internally some light spotting, moderate on the endsheet.

Inventory #: 31022 Price: $ 200.00

Charleton, Arthur G. Tin: Describing the Chief Methods of Mining, Dressing & Smelting it Abroad. With Notes upon Arsenic, Bismuth and Wolfram. London E. & F.N. Spon: 1884. A scholarly study of European methods of mining, dressing and smelting tin, chiefly in Bohemia and Saxony. Charleton was a member of the American Institute of Mining Engineers. This copy bears the ownership signature of Manuel Antonio Gomes 'Himalaya' [1868-1933(?)]. "Father Himalaya" is considered to be the father of solar energy in Portugal, and a visionary pioneer in the field of renewable energy. After taking Holy Orders in the Society of Jesus he studied natural sciences, physics, chemistry, mathematics and astronomy, and traveled to France where he studied with the noted chemist Marcelin Berthelot. In 1899 he was granted a patent by the French government for a device to produce heat by focusing the sun's rays in 1900 he constructed a test device in the Pyrenees and attained a temperature of 1100 degrees centigrade. In 1902 an experiment in Lisbon attained 2000 degrees, and he made a final, startling demonstration of the power of such a device at the St. Louis Exposition in Missouri 1904. There he constructed his "Pireliofero", a 3-story high parabolic mirror mounted on a monstrous iron framework which focused sunlight on an oven mounted at the top of the structure. The oven reached a temperature of 3500 degrees, melting a test chunk of basalt, and Father Himalaya won a Grand Prize for his efforts. He promoted other forms of renewable energy as well, including tidal energy and hydroelectric power, wind power, and geothermal power. Alas, there was plenty of cheap coal and oil available, and his work was generally ignored and forgotten. Father Himalaya retired to become chaplain at Viana Castle, a charity home, where he died at the age of 65. His work has excited interest in Europe in recent years, and his ideas have only lately attained a measure of the respect which eluded them in his lifetime. Hardcover. 6"x9", 83 pages with 2 b/w plates and several text illustrations, plus 17 folding plates of plans and elevations. Light wear, a little rubbing to the tips, etc., text a bit browned, endpaper slightly spotted, but a very nice copy ownership inscription "Rev. M.A.G. Himalaya, Braga, Portugal, 1907" on the title page.

Inventory #: 5444 Price: $ 200.00

Dorge, Valerie & F. Carey Howlett, eds. Painted Wood: History and Conservation. Los Angeles Getty Conservation Institute: 1998. "Proceedings of a symposium organized by the Wooden Artifacts Group of the American Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works, and the Foundation of the AIC, held at Colonial Williamsburg" in 1994. Softcover. 8.5"x11.5", 539 pages, color and black & white illustrations. Water has left light staining and a moderate wrinkle along the bottom quarter of the second half of the book, but there is no paper adhesion. A scarce and desirable title in any condition.

Inventory #: 33206 Price: $ 200.00

German glass periodical. Glastechnische Berichte. Frankfurt am Main Deutschen Glastechnischen Gesellschaft: 1927-1964. A German technical journal devoted to glass and glassmaking. The contents are basically devoted to current methods and developments, but there is also historical material. An interesting glimpse into the development of the German glass industry in the 20th century. This small pile includes- Volume 5 (1927/28) Volume 6 (1928/29) Volume 7 (1929/30) Volume 8 (1930) Volume 13 (1935) Volume 14 (1936) Volume 15 (1937) Volume 16 (1938) Volume 17 (1939) Volume 18 (1940) Volume 36 (1963) Volume 37 (1964). 12 volumes. 7"x10" and 8.5"x11", about 600-700 pages each, b&w illustrations bound in patterned hardcovers ex-company library several volumes either shaken or completely disbound, but all covers are present and most everything is clean.

Inventory #: 28328 Price: $ 350.00

Knight, Edward H. Knight's New Mechanical Dictionary. A Description of Tools, Instruments, Machines, Processes, and Engineering. With Indexical References to Technical Journals (1876-1880). Boston Houghton Mifflin and Company: 1884. An updating of the 'American Mechanical Dictionary', taking into account all the inventions and developments in the five years from 1876-1880, especially as shown at the Philadelphia and Paris Expositions. A massive, heavily illustrated, fascinating book, of great interest to historians of Victorian industry and technology. Hardcover. 7.5"x10.5", viii + 960 pages, 2,549 wood engraved illustrations, plus 56 full-page plates a large heavy book whose front hinge is a bit wonky and has been reglued rear hinge cracked but tight light cover wear, a little soil, tape repair to margin of first two pages. A book whose basic problem is usually the binding giving way, in a binding that still has a few miles to go.

Inventory #: 9486 Price: $ 250.00

Magnier, D. Nouveau Manuel Complet du Porcelainier, Faiencier, Potier de Terre, comprenant la fabrication des gres cerames, des pipes, des boutons en porcelaine, des diverses porcelains tenders... Paris Librairie Encyclopedique de Roret: 1864. A technical manual, designed to replace Boyer's 1827 handbook. The engraved plates illustrate a variety of pottery and porcelain forms as well as types of kilns, kiln packing diagrams, throwing wheels, grinding apparatus, and other machinery. 2 volumes. Hardcover. 3.75"x6", 283 + 212 pages, plus 10 folding engraved plates bound in period marbled boards with plain black leather spines and gilt titles some light spotting and foxing.

Inventory #: 30333 Price: $ 175.00

[Papier Mache, etc.] Patents for Inventions. Abridgments of the Specifications relating to the Manufacture of Paper, Pasteboard, and Papier Mache. Part II- Cutting, folding, and ornamenting including envelopes, cards, paper hangings, &c. edit London George E. Eyre and William Spottiswoode: 1859. An interesting volume containing abstracts and abridgments of patent specifications relating to paper-related subjects. Arranged chronologically and indexed by Patentee and subject, it begins with a scattering of 17th and 18th century patents, including one to Edward Dighton for printing wallpaper from etched copper plates. The vast majority of patents are 19th century, and include methods of decorating and forming papier mache as well as some related to wall paper. Hardcover. 4.75"x7", viii + 166 pages ex-library, bound in red buckram, with a bookplate and stamps on the title and half-title else clean, with tight hinges.

Inventory #: 9495 Price: $ 100.00

Reimann, M. On Aniline and its Derivatives. A Treatise Upon the Manufacture of Aniline and Aniline Colours. London Longmans, Green, and Co.: 1868. First published in Germany, here revised by William Crookes, with "The Report on the Colouring Matters derived from Coal Tar, Shown at the French Exhibition, 1867". Aniline was one of the first synthetic dyes, discovered by accident in 1856. The Preface notes that although there have been other books on aniline, "none of these accounts [gives] a clear representation of the actual state of the manufacture as adopted on a commercial scale. Nowhere do we find a plain statement of the methods of obtaining aniline and its derivatives, nor a description of the apparatus actually in use in its manufacture". This book was written to supply the need for such a text. Uncommon in the marketplace. Hardcover. 5.5"x8.5", xiii + 164 + 24 pages, 7 line illustrations. Rebound in green cloth with a yellow spine label and gilt stamps. Covers a bit soiled, a little internal soil. Binders' ticket for J.R. Connor of North Finchley bound in at the rear endpaper.

Inventory #: 31209 Price: $ 300.00

Sabin, A.H. Theory and Practice of Painting on Metal. New York Edward Smith and Co.: 1905. An updating of a shorter work by the author in 1898. Contains a wealth of information about the use of paints and coatings to protect iron and other metals used in construction from rust and corrosion. The illustrations, which include buildings, pipelines and bridges, show many under-construction views of New York City's Williamsburg Bridge. A detailed look at the state of the art as it existed in 1905 on a topic of great interest today. Uncommon. Softcover. 6"x9", 65 pages, 37 halftones from photographs. A bit of soil, but a very nice copy.

Inventory #: 31210 Price: $ 150.00

Smith, Scott A. The Source and Nature of Electricity and its application to the Electro-Plating Process. Providence Gorham Manufacturing co.: no date [c.1890] An early Gorham promotional booklet meant to educate their customers about electroplating, and the electrical theory behind it- "In considering the magical process of electro-plating, it has seemed to us that a further, and special, interest would attach to our products, if, by some occult means we could look into the hidden source whence comes electricity...We believe that in the introduction, when carefully considered as a whole, the reader will find a very near solution of the question as to the source of electricity and also, concise statements of its different mechanical applications, in addition to the final explanation of the electro-plating process". The first 26 pages give an overview of the development of electricity, and the final six pages discuss the electro-plating process. The gravure plate shows a selection of fancy Gorham pieces that are about-to-be or already have been plated. There was a 2nd edition, apparently unchanged, but with the imprint of Livermore & Knight, in 1891. Both editions are uncommon- OCLC locates only 9 copies of this first edition. Hardcover. 4.5"x7", 35 pages, 1 text illustration and 1 gravure plate. Red and cream cloth with gilt title. Covers somewhat soiled, endpapers lightly spotted, but contents clean. Presentation inscription by "the author" on the title page.

Inventory #: 32282 Price: $ 125.00

Tabor, Osborne B. Business Mathematics. Cambridge Addison-Wesley Press: 1951. 2nd prtg. The author was a professor at the College of Business Administration at Boston University. An uncommon title. Hardcover. 6"x9", 285 pages, light cover soil, slight "wave" at lower outer page corners and very light stain along the bottom margin.

Inventory #: 7793 Price: $ 40.00

Troilius, Magnus. Notes on the Chemistry of Iron for professional men, students, iron and steel merchants, and all interested in iron. New York John Wiley & Sons: 1889. 3rd edition, revised and enlarged. Magnus Troilius, a Swedish engineer, was one of many foreigners introduced to American industry by the famous engineer and metallurgist Alexander L. Holley, who had constructed the first successful Bessemer steel plant in the United States in 1865. Troilius worked at the Midvale Steel Company, and published the first edition of this book in 1885. It is a comprehensive guide book, describing and explaining all the processes involved in assaying and analyzing iron ores, gas analysis, and electrolysis. It also contains a very interesting appendix which lists every single item needed to set up a laboratory for steel analysis. Hardcover. 6"x9.25", ix + 143 pages, 9 line illustrations in the text publisher's blue cloth with gilt titles light wear, half-title neatly removed, but a nice, bright copy.

Inventory #: 9483 Price: $ 100.00