14. Bouguer (Pierre) Traité du Navire, de sa construction, et de ses mouvemens, first edition , title with woodcut device, engraved head-pieces and 12 folding plates, errata and privilege leaves at end, signature of Charles Henry Knowles at head of title and on front pastedown, many annotations and marginalia in contemporary hand (mostly in ink, a few in pencil), small ink sketchmap and notes & calculations loosely inserted, a little light browning or soiling, contemporary calf, rather worn, covers detached, [Polak 1050; Scott Coll. 256], 4to, Paris, Jombert, 1746.
est. £300 – £400
“In 1735 he [Bouguer] accompanied Charles Marie de la Condamine on a scientific expedition to Peru, to determine the length of a meridian near the Equator... Traité de Navire is the first treatise on naval architecture, written on a scientific basis. Bouguer was among the first to investigate mathematical principles in relation to shipbuilding.” Scott