HOLTZAPFFEL, Charles.
Turning and Mechanical Manipulation. Intended as a work of general reference and practical instruction, on the lathe, and the various mechanical pursuits followed by amateurs.
London: Published for the author, by Holtzapffel & Co…1843
5 volumes, 8vo. Volume 1: pp. xiv (including the initial blank), (ii), 462, (4) adverts, + 3 leaves of adverts; volume 2: pp. xx (including the initial blank), (457)–1025, (2) adverts, + 4 leaves of adverts; volume 3: (ii) blank, viii, (v), (1026)–1477, + 7 leaves of adverts; volume 4: pp. xix, (i), 592, (12) adverts, and 22 plates; volume 5: pp. xxi, (i), 652, (6) adverts, and 56 plates (3 folding). With more than 2500 text illustrations. Half-titles. Original brown ribbed cloth, sides panelled and stamped in blind, yellow endpapers, uncut. Some foxing on endpapers and first and last page of later volumes, foot of one spine and head of another worn, cracks in outer joints of volume 2, a few tiny tears at ends of spines, otherwise a fine and very clean set in its original binding. Bookplates of Peter B. Chaplin.
FIRST EDITIONS (but second printing of volume 3) of the greatest work in English on the lathe and its accessory apparatus. Charles Holtzapffel (1806–1847), mechanical engineer and technical writer, was the son of a German immigrant, John Jacob Holtzapffel, who, in 1787, settled in London as a tool and lathe maker. In addition to a thorough training in workshop practice, Holtzapffel received a good general education and became a skilled mechanical engineer. His principal work, Turning and mechanical manipulation, was designed to fill five volumes, but he completed only three; the final two volumes were finished by his son, John J. Holtzapffel who proposed to complete the work in six volumes, but the sixth never appeared. The work was published by the family business of Holtzapffel & Co., 64 Charing Cross Road, London, which made lathes and other machines and tools. (ODNB). See Sinkankas 3008–3010, with details of the printing history. “The sheer quantity of eminently useful information and advice contained in these…volumes makes…[them] veritable gold-mines of Victorian mechanical expertise with much of the matter as useful today as it was then. Full sets, or for that matter, individual volumes, are highly prized and almost impossible to obtain.” Most sets are of mixed editions or incomplete.
£800.00
In stock
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