Memoire sur la Laminage du Plomb

Paris: J Guerin, 1746. Third Enlarged Edition. First Illustrated.. Full contemporary calf.. Very good with modest wear to the binding.. 8vo, xii, [1] - 78, [2 - privilege] pp. + 3 engraved folding plates of machinery; title vignette.

An effort on behalf of the author to overcome the resistance of craft guilds to the introduction of rolled lead sheeting for roofing and gutters. Rolled lead had been in use in the UK since 1670. But the first mill to produce this product in France was established only in 1729 and met with considerable resistance from the guild of plumbers under whom cast lead roofing was a protected craft assignment. This pamphlet defends the advantages of rolled sheet versus cast lead and also goes into a good explanation of manufacturing techniques (all illustrated). This edition (it was first pub'd. in 1731) is the first to have the illustrations. The engraver of the plates is identified as Dheulland, presumably G Dheulland who worked on Belidor's massive hydraulic architecture book. This copy also has bound in a 19th century tariff sheet for various lead pipe and zinc laminated pipe.