EIFFEL (Gustave). 300-meter-high iron tower for the 1889 Exh - Lot 95

EIFFEL (Gustave). 300-meter-high iron tower for the 1889 Exhibition. E. Capiomont & V. Renault, Paris, 1885. In-4, 30 p. (including title and frontispiece), 1 folding plate, paperback, original printed blue-gray paper covers (upper cover and title, tears in margins of title, margins browned). Rare first edition of the project to build a 300-meter-high iron tower for the 1889 Universal Exhibition, by engineer-constructor Gustave Eiffel (1832-1923), a project initiated and drawn up by Emile Nouguier (1840-1897), Maurice Koechlin (1856-1946) and Stephen Sauvestre (1847-1919), his collaborating engineers and architect. A dedication copy by the author, with the autograph note "Hommage de l'auteur G. E." on the cover. This memoir, read to the Société des Ingénieurs civils by Eiffel, presents detailed studies, feasibility (wind resistance and stability), construction methods (masonry, steel or iron, hydraulic elevators, electric lighting) and cost. It also reports on the favorable opinion of several personalities regarding the construction of such a tower from a scientific point of view, including Admiral Mouchez, director of the Observatory, and Mr. Pierre Puiseux, astronomer attached to the same observatory. The work is illustrated with a fold-out plate featuring plans, sections and miscellaneous information, two figures in the text, one of which is a full-page reproduction of the Washington monument, and a frontispiece depicting the Eiffel Tower, by Poyet.