Wholesale The Great Works of the Century – J.-B. Dumont – 256 engravings – Hachette, 1893

J.-B. Dumont signs with this work one of the great scientific and technical popularizations of the late 19th century. Published by Librairie Hachette et Cie at 79 Boulevard Saint-Germain in Paris, this new 1893 edition gathers in a spectacular volume the most ambitious achievements of the industrial era. Metal bridges, tunnels, canals, colossal machines, monuments, transatlantic liners, the Eiffel Tower, the double bridge of Niagara, the Statue of Liberty under construction in Bartholdi's Parisian workshops. Each chapter recounts a technical and human challenge, with the precision of an engineer and the momentum of a contemporary chronicler. The work is illustrated with 256 wood engravings in-text and plates hors-texte, several of them taken from L'Illustration. The engraving showing the Statue of Liberty in the construction workshops in Paris is by itself a first-rate historical document. Librairie Hachette, founded in 1826 by Louis Hachette, was at the time of this publication one of the most powerful publishing houses in France, specializing in popularization works, youth libraries and large illustrated albums. Its red and gold cloth bindings, recognizable above all others, adorned the bourgeois bookshelves of the Belle Époque. Publisher's scarlet red cloth binding, gilt and black cold-stamped decoration, decorated ribbed spine, gilt title. Librairie Hachette vignette at the foot of the back cover. The copy bears handwritten pencil annotations on the half-title, notes from a contemporary reader listing the subjects that struck him. Double bridge of Niagara, largest metal bridge in the world, liners, Eiffel Tower p.415. These traces of reading add to the life of the object. Condition. Binding worn at the corners and spine, upper cap split. Interior browned but complete, engravings sharp. Handwritten pencil annotations.