‎REAUMUR (M. DE)‎
‎L'art de convertir le fer forgé en acier et l'art d'adoucir le fer fondu ou de faire des ouvrages de fer fondu aussi finis que de fer forgé ---- EDITION ORIGINALE‎

‎P., Brunet, 1722, un fort volume in 4 relié en pleine basane mouchetée, dos orné de fers dorés, tranches rouges (reliure de l'époque), (coiffes usées, mors fendus, quelques rousseurs), (10), 566pp., 2pp., 17 PLANCHES DEPLIANTES‎

Reference : 44130

‎---- EDITION ORIGINALE ---- "REAUMUR's publication on the art of converting iron into steel and of softening cast iron laid the foundations of the steel industry in France". (Partington III p. 60/65) ---- "REAUMUR was called by his friends "the Pliny of the 18e century" for the richness and diversity of his scientific activity. In this Art de convertir le fer forgé en acier et l'art d'adoucir le fer fondu he revealed for the first time hitherto secret details of the process and also came very close to the correct explanation of the nature of steel, that it is iron combined with a small quantity of carbon". (Hoover collection N° 677) ---- "Reaumur most significant and original contribution to industrial technology was unquestionably his investigation of the iron and steel industry, the results of which he presented in a series of memoirs read before the Academy in 1720, 1721 and 1722. They were collected and published under the title L'art de convertir le fer forgé en acier et l'art d'adoucir le fer fondu ou de faire des ouvrages de fer fondu aussi finis que de fer forgé, Paris 1722... He did bring to these researches a profound mathematical ability, an extraordinarily keen power of observation, a lively experimental imagination and a fine rational intellect...". (DSB XI pp. 327/335) ---- Honeyman N° 2585**44130/4413/o1‎