CONDORCET (Jean-Antoine-Nicolas Caritat de)Livre Rare Book
Mémoire sur le canal de Picardie.
1780ref. 136971No place no publisher 1780. First edition of Condorcet's attack on the corps of engineers responsible for France's major canal building projects. Turgot looking to finish the large and ambitious Picardy and Burgundy canal systems placed Condorcet in charge of experimental research on canals. "Condorcet's research was instrumental in demonstrating the flaws in existing proposals for the tunnels for the new canals whose design would have made it impossible for boats to pass through. In the course of the demonstration a whole new branch of physics was invented. Apart from technical issues Condorcet also soon found himself immersed in research of a more sociological nature in Flanders and Picardy on the impact of the new canals on local communities. This resulted in an angry report to Turgot published in 1780 as the Mémoire sur le canal de Picardie in which the corps of engineers and the inadequacies of their professional training were strongly criticized" Williams p. 21. Octavo 194 x 120 mm. Disbound. Contemporary note of Condorcet's authorship to title page. Slight loss at bottom fore corner of pp. 11-14 not near text contents clean; very good. David Williams Condorcet and Modernity 2004. unknown
Peter Harrington · Reino Unido£ 650,00≈ € 776,32
