Encyclopédie des chemins de fer et des machines a vapeur
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An illustrated encyclopedic dictionary devoted to railway and steam technology
Tourneux, Félix
Encyclopédie des chemins de fer et des machines a vapeur
à l'usage des praticiens et des gens du monde
1844, Paris, Paul Renouard
First Edition
¥147,300 JPY
Sale price
¥147,300 JPY
Regular price
Overview
In-8. Pp. [1] f.e., [8], 520, XII folded tables, [1] r.e.
First edition of this richly documented encyclopedic dictionary of railway and steam technology, published two years after the Paris-Versailles disaster of 8 May 1842, which intensified public, scientific, and legislative scrutiny of rail safety. Tourneux places rail transport within its full nineteenth-century framework: mechanics, metallurgy, bridge engineering, steam power, law, tariffs, measurement, and administration. The alphabetical form gives that rapidly evolving vocabulary practical order, preserving a field still experimental and at times dangerous, yet increasingly shaped by the conviction that disciplined knowledge could make modern transport safer and more legible.
Inside the book
Arranged alphabetically, the work covers the technical, commercial, juridical, and scientific language of the railway and steam age. Entries move from mechanics to infrastructure and governance: "Abattre" (lowering heavy machine components for inspection), "Accéléré" (acceleration and motion), "Dent" (gear teeth), "Fer" and "Fil de fer" (industrial iron and wire), and "Ferme" (truss construction), alongside "Abonnement" (subscription contracts), "Barrières" (level crossings), "Bascule" (weighbridges), "Bassin" (hydrographic basins for route planning), "Jurisprudence," "Jury" (indemnification tribunals under the law of 3 May 1841), and metrological entries such as "Kilogramme" and "Kilomètre." Particularly notable is "Chemin de fer," which tabulates decreed, conceded, and operational European lines as of 1844, organized by country and illustrated with major routes across France, the British Isles, and the German-speaking states. "Accidens" treats railway danger with unusual frankness, describing uncontrolled steam as destructive and presenting accidents as a structural risk of technical progress pending fuller scientific control. The scope also includes steam navigation ("Bateaux à vapeur") and vehicle dynamics ("Lacet," on lateral carriage oscillation), with comparison to the 7-foot broad gauge (about 2.13 m) of the Great Western Railway. Illustration is substantial: twelve hors-texte engraved plates, including several folding sheets, plus numerous in-text woodcuts and technical diagrams. Together they depict locomotives, boilers, wheel and carriage assemblies, bridge and rail profiles, and related machinery, reinforcing the book's function as a practical technical reference.
Condition
Half calf over marbled boards, smooth spine with seven decorative gilt fillets, gilt title; edges sprinkled in blue. Foxing, slightly more pronounced at the beginning of the volume, becoming progressively rarer thereafter. Twelve plates mounted at the time of the binding and folded, in very good conditions. Small engraved illustrations in the text. A very good copy.
Dimensions (inches): 7 1/4 x 4 1/2 x 1 1/4
Why La Fenice likes it
Shaped by the lessons of early railway mishaps, this dictionary turns steam-age complexity into clarity: law, commerce, safety, and iron networks spark into ordered, purposeful knowledge.
About the author
Félix Tourneux, Ingénieur en chef of the Dôle–Salins railway in 1843, then of the Tours–Nantes line in 1846.
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