Description des projets et de la construction des ponts de Neuilli, de Mantes, d'Orléans, de Louis XVI, etc.: on y a ajouté le projet du canal de Bourgogne, pour la communication des deux mers par Dijon, et de celui de la conduite des eaux de l'Yvette et de la Bievre à Paris, en soixante et treize planches par M. Perronet ...
Paris: chez Didot fils aîné, Jombert jeune ... de l'imprimerie de François-Ambroise Didot,, 1788.
Physical Description
2 vols.; Vol. I: mm. (Quarto); vol. II 563 mm. (Folio).
General Note
Vol. I: [4], viii, 696, [2] p. - Vol. II: Port., 73 [i.e. 75] pl. (29 dble., many fold.) There are ter pl. 34.
Contents
Vol. I: [Half-title:] 'Oeuvres De M. Perronet.'-- [Title-page] -- [Dedication] 'Au Roi.' -- 'Discours Préliminaire.' -- [Text.] -- 'Table ...' -- 'Supplément. Description de la planche N.o LXXIII.' -- 'Supplément Au Mémoire Sur Les Cintres.' -- Vol. II: [Port.] - [Plates].
Responsibility Note
In Volume II the portrait of Perronet is signed as drawn by C.N. Cochin filius and engraved by August. De St. Aubin. Most plates are signed by draughtsmen (J.F. Eustache de St. Fare, Le Sage) and engravers (J.P. Tardieu, Desbrulins, J.F. Germain, P.L. Auvray, Dequevauviller, Perrier, P.G. Berthault, Prevost, De Longueil, A Duval, Ch. J. Groux and le Gouaz).
References
J. Sweetman, The artist and the bridge 1700-1920 (1999); B. Marrey, Ecrits d'ingénieurs (1997), p. 9-30; B. Marrey, Les ponts modernes - 18e et 19e siècles (1990), p. 310; A. Picon, Architectes et ingénieurs au siècle des lumières (1988; English tr. by M. Thom 1992); Y. Michel, 'Jean-Rodolphe Perronet (1708-1794)', in Monuments historiques (Apr-Jun 1987), no. 150-151; A. Picon, 'Die Vorstellungskraft eines Konstrukteurs: Jean-Rodolphe Perronet und das Modell einer Brücke', in Daidalos, XVIII (1985), p. 74-87; Ted Ruddock, Arch bridges and their builders, 1735-1835 (1979); J. Gies, Bridges and men (1963).
Summary Note
Perronet's work was originally published in 1782-3; and immediately made his Neuilly bridge accessible to engineers all over Europe. The second edition has some new material (in particular the 'Devis' for the Pont de la Concorde) and some new plates. A Supplément issued in 1789 is said to have been intended to make the new material of the 1788 edition available to those who had acquired the original edition of 1782-3.
A friend of Soufflot, Perronet was familiar with Gothic architecture, and his designs for bridges display his knowledge of mechanics and strength of materials. So austerely functional were the resulting structures as to cause some uneasiness even among such neoclassical architects as Boullée.
The book is praised by Sweetman as an excellent match of technical discourse with truly elucidating illustrations.
Reproductions
A facsimile of the 1788 edition was published under the title, Construire des ponts au XVIIIème siècle, in Paris by the Presses de l'Ecole Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées in 1987 (ISBN 285978103X).
Provenance
Acquired between 1788 and 1802. Recorded in RAA Library, Catalogue, 1802.
Binding Note
Atlas: 18th-century mottled calf, rebacked to style in 1990s, brown morocco gilt spine-label reading 'Perronet / Sur Les / Pontes'., Text: 18th-century mottled calf, rebacked to style in 1990s (matching above), red morocco gilt spine-label reading 'Oeuvres / De / Perronet'
Subject
Bridges - Canals - Aqueducts - Engineering - Architecture - France - Pont de la Concorde (Paris) - History - 18th century
Pictorial works - France - 18th century