NAVIER, Claude Louis Marie Henri.

Rapport à Monsieur Becquey, Conseiller d'État, Directeur général des Ponts et Chaussées et des Mines; et Mémoire sur les Ponts Suspendus.

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Woodcut royal arms on title & 13 fine folding engraved plates. xxiv, 228 pp. Large 4to, later blue half-calf & marbled boards, spine gilt. Paris: de l'Imprimerie Royale, 1823. First edition. "Navier's 'Rapport et Mémoire' made it possible from this very early period of suspension bridge development to determine both the forces and the most economic dimensions of principal members. The work was the first theoretical and practical treatise on such bridges, and its influence was immense and far-reaching. It went into use immediately and was soon translated into German and Italian; copies existed in America, one of which was owned by Roebling. Within this remarkable and unprecedented book, Navier sets out to analyse the structural behaviour, tackling the problems inherent in such bridges in a clear and scientific manner. Of particular interest at such a date are his investigations into the effect of wind and vibration, both responsible for many failures and neither fully understood until after 1940 and the Tacoma bridge collapse. He applies his theories to his design for the proposed Invalides bridge in Paris with a span of 170m and to a hypothetical suspension aqueduct of 97.5m span... "The work stemmed from the visits he made to Britain to examine the bridges there on behalf of the Ponts et Chaussées, assessing the possibilities of this new structural form. In his report to Becquey he recommends its adoption, giving in the Mémoire that follows, precise plans and details of such notable examples as Brown's Berwick bridge and those of Marc Brunel on the Isle de Bourbon as well as describing Telford's Runcorn and Menai schemes. He also summarizes the experiments on wrought-iron chains carried out by Telford, Barlow, Brown and Brunel. The book as a whole is thus a brilliant synthesis of theory and practice."­Elton, Cat. 4, item 32. "For fifty years, this report was one of the most important books covering the design of suspension bridges."­Timoshenko, History of Strength of Materials, p. 73. Fine copy. Ex Bibliotheca Mechanica. Peters, Guillaume Henri Dufour and the Early 19th Century Cable Suspension Bridges, p. 42­"the first theoretical and practical book on suspension bridge construction, giving precise plans and details, as well as the first widely used theoretical work on analytical statics." Poggendorff, II, 260-61. Roberts & Trent, Bibliotheca Mechanica, pp. 234-35.

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