COULOMB Charles Augustin de Précis des Opérations relatives à la Navigation intérieure de Bretagne, Contenant la Délibération des Etats des 29 & 30 janvier 1783; le Rapport de MM. les Commissaires; les Mémoires & Rapport de M. de Coulomb, Capitaine au Corps Royal du Génie, Conseil de la Commission, & de M. de Chezy, Inspecteur général des Ponts & Chaussées de France; Les Mémoires, Plans et Devis des Ingénieurs, pour la perfection de la Navigation de Rennes à Redon; la jonction de la Villaine à la Rance par les Rivières de l’Isle et du Linon, ou les Rivières du Meu & du Garun.

Roberts & Trent, 81-82 (this copy); DSB, III, p. 439-446.

Exceptional Sammelband of 14 pieces on an abandoned project of canal construction in Brittany under Louis XVI.

It is extra illustrated with an engraved map of the projected canals of that region (‘Carte figurative des rivières et des canaux projetés pour la navigation intérieure de Bretagne’) by Ollivaut. Coulomb’s last major consulting duties as an officer of the military engineering corps concerned plans for a canal system linking Angers, Nantes, and St. Malo, and for a harbour development at St. Malo. Unfortunately for Coulomb, the scheme proposed by the Breton canal commission, and vigorously promoted by its head, the Comte de Piré, was grandiose and expensive. Unaware of the political implications, Coulomb and the other consultants ‘insisted on assessing the harbour scheme as it really was – a project that would be both economically and technically unfeasible’. Outraged, the canal commission applied pressure to Coulomb’s superiors, and, on an absurd technicality, he and an associate were briefly jailed. Already having realized his situation, Coulomb had attempted to resign from the royal engineers or to have another engineer assigned to the project, pleading ill health, lack of social rank, and lack of diplomatic skills. Nonetheless, his superiors assented to the Estates’ demand that Coulomb return to supervise the project. Doomed from the outset, work on the canals began in June of 1784 and was abandoned, uncompleted, that October. In 1785, the Estates of Brittany awarded Coulomb a boîte d’or (golden box) in lieu of a monetary gift. Perhaps more gratifying, though , was the 1786 committee report on the Breton canals, which confirmed his original assessment of the project.

This rare report incudes an extract from the Etats, the Commission Report, Chezy’s report, Coulomb’s report, Procès-verbal by Coulomb and Robinet, Memoir by Frignet, Breakdown of estimated costs for the different component parts, Memoir by Frignet, Memoir by de Brie, Memoir by Bremontier, Memoir of Liard, Memoir dated 15 October 1784 by Liard with acknowledgement by Paviot on last page, Observations by Rosnyvinen de Piré, le fils, and Tableau de la Communication Intérieure du Royaume de France”.

Tipped-in Bound in at had : Bifolium of blue paper, 3 pp., entitled Manière de verifier le niveau d’air à Lunette. And a leaf, 1 ½ pp. bearing ‘Rapport de M. de Chézy’ bearing additions to that article tipped in facing page 6 of that report. (See Bibliotheca Mechanica)

“Coulomb’s most celebrated engineering consulting task was in Brittany in 1783-84. Here he became involved, against his will, in a commission to recommend canal and harbor improvements. The commission (which included Borda and the abbé Alexis Marie Rochon) submitted a critical report and Colomb suffered as the scapegoat, being confined to prison for one week in November 1783” (DSB).

Exceptional Sammelband.

Small loss to bottom of spine, else fine.

Book plate of Bibliotheca Mechanica.