Forbes, George

i) Two scrap books, folio, containing 68 photographs, 3 letters (letter dated 31st August 1895, from the Scottish publisher William Blackwood mentioning an enclosed check of £18 in acknowledgment of Forbes' work at Niagara), manuscript notes, newspaper articles mostly dated in manuscript from c.1892-99 (The Electrical Engineer, The Times, The Globe, The Electrician, The Saturday Review, The Financial News, Niagara Falls Gazette, etc.), The Scientific American, July 22, 1899, p. 50-64, newspaper clippings laid in provided by The General Press Cutting Association, Ltd. etc., both volumes in roan-backed boards, some tears, spotting and creasing, photographs faded, bindings worn with loss to spines; ii) A white metal watch fob, containing a section of telegraph cable, engraved "Niagara 1857"; iii) Lithograph of George Forbes (380 x 275mm.), by J.H. Lynch after George Richmond, printed by M. & H. Hanhart, laid down, framed and glazed, some light soiling and darkening; iv) Adams, Edward Dean. Niagara Power. Niagara Falls, New York: Privately Printed for the Niagara Falls Power Company, 1927, 2 volumes, 4to, FIRST EDITION, half-titles, original blue boards, minor wear to boards (6)

Forbes was appointed as the consulting engineer on the Niagara Falls hydroelectric scheme in 1891, and - as this lot demonstrates - played a key role in the development of this ambitious and ground-breaking project. Niagara Power Station 1 (later renamed the Edward Dean Adams Power Plant and today a National Historic Landmark) was the first large-scale electric generating plant in the world to produce AC power.