Fulton, Robert — Antonio Carlos de Andrada (trans.) | Treatise on the Improvement of Canal Navigation, in Portuguese

Fulton, Robert — Antonio Carlos de Andrada (trans.)

Tratado do melhoramento da navegação por canães. Lisbon: Na Oficina da Casa Litteraria do Arco do Cego, 1800

4to (250 x 180 mm.) Title page with engraved royal Portuguese coat of arms, eighteen engraved plates by Argo, two folding; title page slightly soiled, minor dampstaining to lower margins of a few leaves and plates, repair to closed tear of plate no. 8, marginal toning. Nineteenth-century quarter black calf over marbled boards, smooth spine with gilt bands, gilt-lettered red morocco label, edges sprinkled brown, marbled endpapers; some rubbing and wear to extremities, a few scuffs to spine with minor loss to foot. 

First edition of Robert Fulton’s Treatise on the Improvement of Canal Navigation, translated into Portuguese.

The Treatise was the first major published work by the celebrated American inventor, engineer, and painter Robert Fulton, and it found favor throughout Europe. It was soon translated into Portuguese by Antonio Carlos Ribeiro de Andrade e Silva, with the express wish that its ideas be exploited both in Portugal and in Brazil. The Tratado faithfully reproduces the elegant plates of the London edition, which were engraved after Fulton's own designs. 

REFERENCES

Lisbon, Biblioteca Nacional, A Casa Literária do Arco do Cego 35; Borba de Moraes (1983) II, 798; ESTC T101123; Federal Hundred 59; Howes F418; Sowerby 1230