Etudes sur l'art d'extraire immediatement Le Fer de Ses Minerais sans convertir le metal en fonte.

Paris :: Librairie Scientifique et Industrielle de L. Mathias, 1838., 1838. Atlas folio. Approx. 46x32 cm. With 9 engraved plates by Alex. Zakrzewski, Alexandre r. St. Dominique St. Germain, and E. de Tere; also lithography by Gordon r. Gueinegaud mounted on tabs; all plates being trimmed and with possible minor loss at the extremities (such as a title). Modern quarter dark brown cloth, original marbled boards, original marbled endsheets retained. Two embossed perforated stamps of the Franklin Institute Library, Philadelphia. Very good. Rare. This is the atlas volume of plates showing the process of iron metallurgy in France. A text volume (370 pages) was also issued, not available here. This volume is bound without any cover-title, nor a title-page. / "The Catalan forge, or forges with Catalan, is a set of technological processes intended to obtain iron, by direct reduction of the ore – without going through the intermediary of the cast iron as in a blast furnace . . . The Catalan forge uses a hydraulic force to operate, on the one hand, a hammer or swift, and on the other hand a ventilation system, the trunk, intended to maintain the combustion of the fireplace. The term refers to both technology in itself and the building where this activity is carried out. Contrary to what its name may suggest, this type of forge was used everywhere from the 17th to the 19th century in mountain areas, Alps, Massif Central and Pyrenees, but also by the first American settlers." PROVENANCE [2]: Charles Edward Smith, was president of Reading Railroad, Philadelphia, his gift to the Franklin Institute Library – Franklin Institute Library. See: E. Alexander Scott, Memoir of Charles E. Smith, president of the Philadelphia & Reading railroad and iron master. 1820 to 1900.