DENTON, William. [John A. Roebling]

The Past and Future of Our Planet; or, Lectures on Geology

First edition. Publisher's red cloth gilt. A small patch of cloth lacking at the crown, corners bumped and a modest crease on the rear board, a very good copy. John A. Roebling's copy, with his bold ownership signature on the front fly. Roebling, among many other things, was a pioneer in the design of wire suspension bridges, and notably the designer of the Brooklyn Bridge. He died in 1869, as the result of the injuries sustained while surveying the locations of the giant caissons on which the bridge stood, leaving his son, Washington Roebling, to complete the decade-long construction. The building of the caissons, sunk into the river bed, was entirely dependent on the geology of the region, and one can imagine why Roebling would have been interested in this book. Of particular interest is that someone, most logically John A. Roebling, has made small but detailed drawings on the rear endpapers of the types of joints and braces that might have been used in large scale trestle construction. Incongruously, below the drawings, are a few notes about what type of grapes make the best wines.

[BTC #295643]