FAIRBAIRN, William An account of the construction of the Britannia and Conway tubular bridges, with a complete history of their progress, from the conception of the original idea, to the conclusion of the elaborate experiments which determined the exact form and mode of construction ultimately adopted. London, Weale 1849
8vo. xii + 291 + (1)pp, 20 plates (19 folding), of which 6 engraved, 2 aquatint and 12 litho, numbered I-XX. Publisher's quarter purple morocco. Many of the plates repaired (as usual) and front hinge a little delicate but overall an excellent copy with a presentation inscription from Fairbairn to Andrew Ure, and a further inscription, "To Sir Charles Fox from K.M. In memory of her father". The Britannia Tubular Bridge, Robert Stephenson's masterpiece, opened in 1850, which carried the Chester & Holyhead Railway over the Menai Straits, was the most celebrated bridge of its age. Remarkable for its originality, the design (and that of its smaller counterpart at Conway) consisted of a hollow tube made of wrought-iron plates. It evolved from model tests and from mathematical calculations carried out by William Fairbairn and Eaton Hodgkinson. This synthesis of theory and practice was applied for the first time to these structures and marked the advent of structural engineering as we know it today.William Fairbairn, ironmaster and manufacturer, was invited by Stephenson to join the team because of his unparalleled knowledge of the use of iron in construction. Fairbairn called in Eaton Hodgkinson, the mathematician and engineer who had made significant advances in the understanding of the structural properties of iron. Together they carried out the model testing and calculations that established the theoretical data needed to design these unprecedented structures in wrought iron, then a material untried on such a scale. Fairbairn's book contains the copious correspondence between him and Stephenson as they evolved the form for these unprecedented structures and worked out the novel method of erection which involved the floating out of the great tubes, each 450 feet in length, and jacking them up into position using great hydraulic presses, also discussed in detail here. Unfortunately Fairbairn resigned, embittered, from the project in 1848 over an apparent lack of recognition for his remarkable contribution and partly intended his book to put that contribution in its true perspective. It contains much material not found in Edwin Clark’s official account, published as a riposte the following year, to which it is thus an essential counterpart. This copy has a particularly poignant association because it was given by Fairbairn to Andrew Ure, distinguished chemist and scientific writer. Ure was Fairbairn’s main supporter in the row over the credit for the tubular bridges. In 1853, when a new edition of his famous “Dictionary of Chemistry” came out, Ure included an article on the bridges, fanning the flames of the dispute by accrediting Fairbairn as their “Inventor” and criticizing Stephenson for claiming “the entire merit...[assigning] to Mr. Fairbairn in a very slighting manner the place of a mere after advisor”. The copy also bears a presentation inscription to the famous engineer, Sir Charles Fox, who was part of Stephenson’s team on the London & Birmingham Railway, himself designing some significant iron bridges, who went on to undertake the construction of the Crystal Palace.
£650
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