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1855 Civil Engineer and Architect's Journal, Many Plates. Bound. Henry Babbage Click to Enlarge Click to Enlarge Click to Enlarge Click to Enlarge Click to Enlarge Click to Enlarge Click to Enlarge Click to Enlarge Click to Enlarge Click to Enlarge Click to Enlarge Click to Enlarge Click to Enlarge Click to Enlarge Click to Enlarge Click to Enlarge Click to Enlarge Click to Enlarge Click to Enlarge Click to Enlarge Click to Enlarge Description: Civil Engineer and Architect's Journal Incorporated with The Architect Volume XVIII 1855 Printed and published by John Knotts for Frederick Wiiliam Laxton, London 1855. Three-quarter leather over cloth-covered boards, quarto, 440 pages, in-text engraved illustrations, 37 plates of architectural and mechanical prints and plans, many fold-out. Index A techincal journal dealing with all matters of professioinal interest to civil engineers and architects. Each issue includes lengthy technical articles and book reviews, news and notices. Subjects includes railroads and locomotives, new and old architecture projects, bridges, geology, electrical and mechanical machinery, lighting, harbors, canals, etc. etc. Coverage is oriented towards British interests but there is also much material on the United States, Continental Europe and other countries. Some of the topics are the invention and application of the electric telegraph, The Washington, DC water supply, the proposal and plans for the Suez Canal, the US Pacific railroad surveys, the health aspects and prevention of smoke inhalation, the Gyroscope, the Theory of Arches, etc etc. Of particular interest is the following paper by Henry P. Babbage: On Mechanical Notation , Exemplified by a Swedish Calculating Machine of Messers Scheutz. Henry Prevost Babbage (1824-1918) was Charles Babbage and Georgiana Whitmore's youngest son. As teenagers he and his brother Dugald spent time in Babbage's drawing office and workshop learning workshop skills. Henry later acquired a sound grasp of the Difference and Analytical Engine designs, and came to form a close bond with his father whom he visited on furlough from extended military service in India. Babbage bequeathed his drawings, workshop and the surviving physical relics of the engines to Henry who tried to continue his father's work and to publicize the engines after Babbage's death. He was at his father's bedside when Babbage died in 1871. There is no continuous line of development from Babbage to the electronic era and Henry is one of the bridging figures. From 1872 Henry continued diligently with his father's work and then intermittently in retirement in 1875. He assembled about six small demonstration pieces for Difference Engine No. 1 one of which he sent to Harvard. In the 1930s the piece attracted the attention of Howard Aiken, pioneer of the Harvard Mk. I, a program-controlled calculator. Aiken wrote that on seeing the piece 'he felt that Babbage was addressing him personally from the past'. Henry also built an experimental four-function calculator for the Mill for the Analytical Engine, completing it in 1910 when he was eighty-six years old. His work on the engines was sound but without the boldness and inspiration of his father. Very scarce and interesting volume. CONDITION: Good Covers and Very Good Contents. Tight binding. (Covers have edge and corner wear, some soil, drying, bubbling and small tears of fabric on boards. Spine leather has a 0.5 inch split at top of joint with front board. Except for a very short closed tear at the blank margin of the Title Page the Contents are complete and intact with age toned paper, soil and spotting on blank endpapers, creases on two rear blank endpapers, some spots on page fore edges. Infrequent light marginal foxing spots. Some pages with very narrow and small stains in the blank fore margins All the plates are intact and clean except for one plate with a short closed tear at edge, and two plates which have some dust soiling on the rear, one of the latter plates also have very small chips at one edge.) Check our other auctions and store listings for additional unusual items. ( Click here to view all of our auctions ) Shipping and Payment Information Shipping : DOMESTIC Domestic Media Mail shipping, including Delivery Confirmation and Insurance, is standard. This applies to any address in the US and Puerto Rico, as well as to APO addresses. Media Mail, available only for domestic shipping, is trucked to its destination, and shipped by boat to Alaska, Hawaii and Puerto Rico, On the average it takes 3 to 10 days to arrive, depending on the distance and the vagaries of the US Postal Service. Shipments to Alaska, Hawaii, APO and other off-shore addresses take longer to arrive. 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