Allen, John Specimina ichnographica London 1730
Allen, John. Specimina ichnographica: or, a brief narrative of several new inventions, and experiments; particularly, the navigating a ship in a calm, the improvement of the engine to raise water by fire, a new method of drying malt, &c. For all which his Majesty has lately been most graciously pleas'd to grant letters patent to John Allen, M.D. London: printed for W. Innys, 1730. 44 pp. + an engraved folding frontispiece. First edition. "The author's proposal to place an engine (based on Savery and Newcomen's atmospheric steam-engine) in a ship so that movement would be gained by forcing water out of the stern, would, if ever carried out, probably have been the first model of a steamship." -- Horblit sale (1974), lot 29 (this copy, £440). The engine itself was designed to save coal, by placing the fire within a boiler. Allen was a physician by profession; his Synopsis Medicinae (1720) went through a great many editions. In very good condition; with the Harrison D. Horblit book label. Wheeler Gift Catalogue 270 ("interesting on account of date").
£950
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