Collection de Machines, d'Instrumens, Ustensiles, Constructions, Appareils, etc. employés dans l'Economie rurale, domestique et industrielle. D'après les dessins faits dans diverses parties de l'Europe..

199 finely lithographed plates (the plate "Irrigations, No. 6" in Vol. I was not published). Lithographed title, 48 printed leaves of text including final leaf listing plates; one lithographed leaf of "Prospectus," lithographed title, 45 leaves of text incl. final leaf listing plates. Two parts in one vol. Large 4to, cont. green half-sheep (joints very carefully repaired), spine gilt. Paris, "á l'Etabissement lithographique du Comte de Lasteyrie, Rue du Bac No. 58," 1820-21. First edition of one of the most extensive and important lithographic works published in the early days of the medium. Lasteyrie (1759-1849), agronomist, industrialist, and philanthropist, was much involved in modernizing the agricultural techniques practiced in France. He had taken an interest in lithography almost from the beginning and was, in large part, responsible for making Paris the lithographic center of the world. He established his first lithographic press in Paris in 1815 and did much commercial work for the government, printing of caricatures, vanity projects for the "high society" of the city, and, above all, the drawings of artists and amateurs. The plates, all signed "C. de Last," contain depictions of farm buildings of various sorts; many kinds of fences, barriers, and walls; carriages, wagons, and wheel barrows; farm tools including hoes and rakes; distillation apparatus; bee hives of many sorts; wine-making equipment; irrigation devices including pumps, water raising devices, canals, and ditches; harnesses for horses, cows, and goats; racks to dry crops; bridges; furnaces; mills; baskets to be placed on horses; chicken coops; ladders; trellises; gates; shelves for aging cheeses; dairy equipment; picks and axes; barns; bird houses; silos; designs for stalls for horses and cows; dams; green houses; etc.; etc. A fine and attractive copy. Bookplate of the Chateau de Monbouan. ❧ Twyman, Lithography, pp. 49-57.