Here on this page are 17 business related books on inventions and technology that were on our shelves in Walpole, New Hampshire on March 6, 2008. Enjoy browsing through, and feel free to place your order at any time with Ray Boas, Bookseller.
1. Billings, William R., SOME DETAILS OF WATER-WORKS CONSTRUCTION, Engineer & Building Record, Newton Abbot, UK, 1888 1st ed, B&W illustrations, 96pp, & ads, very good, brown cloth (hardcover) EX-LIB with minimal markings, (Order No: 5072 ), $25.00
2. Bliven, Bruce, THE WONDERFUL WRITING MACHINE, Random House, New York, (1954) 1st ptg, over 60 B&W ill., 236pp, good w/good dustjacket (hardcover), "The fascinating story of the typewriter from its earliest beginnings to the present." Book was commissioned by The Royal Typewriter Company., (Order No: 2088 ), $14.50
3. Brooks, John, TELEPHONE: THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS, Harper & Row, New York, (1976) 1st ed, B&W and color illustrations, 369pp, very good w/good dustjacket (hardcover) chip on spine of jacket, ISBN 0060105402 "The Wondrous Invention that Changed a World and Spawned a Corporate Giant.", (Order No: 2098 ), $3.00
4. Calder, Ritchie, THE EVOLUTION OF THE MACHINE, American Heritage Pub. Co., New York, 1968, B&W and color illustrations, 160pp, very good w/good dustjacket (hardcover), Persistent theme in this book is the impact of environment on technological breakthroughs and the subsequent world history. Fascinating history with a detailed chronology., (Order No: 2104 ), $2.50
5. Costain, Thomas B., THE CHORD OF STEEL: ALEXANDER GRAHAM BELL AND THE INVENTION OF THE TELEPHONE, Doubleday and Co., Inc., New York, 1960, B&W illustrations, 238pp, very good w/good dustjacket (hardcover), (Order No: 2804 ), $2.50
6. Crawford, M. D. C., THE CONQUEST OF CULTURE: HOW MAN INVENTED HIS WAY TO CIVILIZATION, Fairchild Publishing Co., New York, 1948 rev ed, 449pp, good, red cloth (hardcover) (no dustjacket), Author was a popularizer of knowledge on the force of technology on the history of culture. Lewis Mumford said of this book, "It is the best general survey of the role of invention in civilization, from pre-historic man to the present." Crawford traces mana's material culture from its earliest beginnings, with the cutting edge of flint, through the ice age, from herding to domestication, to the mechanical processes and inventions of the modern industrial complex., (Order No: 7394 ), $6.00
7. Dickson, Antonia and Dickson, W. K. L. (with an introduction by Charles G. Clarke) also inscribed by Clarke, EDISON'S INVENTION OF THE KINETO-PHONOGRAPH, Pueblo Press, Los Angeles, CA, 1939, B&W illustrations, 18pp, very good, brown cloth spine, black boards (hardcover), "Reprint of one of the rare first accounts of the Talking Motion Picture." The original article appeared in the Century Magazine for June, 1894, but was long forgotten. One of 250 numbered copies with a "Zoetrope of Magic Panorama" in the rear pocket. Uncommon., (Order No: 52792 ), $275.00
8. FitzSimons, Neal (edited, with introduction by), THE REMINISCENCES OF JOHN B. JERVIS: ENGINEER OF THE OLD CROTON, Syracuse University Press, Syracuse, NY, (1971) 1st ed, 12 B&W ill., 196pp, very good w/lightly chipped dustjacket (hardcover), ISBN 0815600771 The forty mile Old Croton Aqueduct, which in 1842 furnished New York City with an ample supply of pure water, brought John B. Jervis (1795-1885) worldwide acclaim as chief engineer for the system. He was one of the great civil engineers of the nineteenth century who was an engineer on the Erie Canal and the Delaware and Hudson Canal. He was also fascinated with early locomotives and was involved with the Mohawk and Hudson Railway. Other projects included: Chenango Canal and Erie Englargement, Croton Water Supply System, Croton Dam, and the "High Bridge". Port Jervis, New York, is named for him. This collection is a series of autobiographic sketches of his professional life., (Order No: 12639 ), $10.00
9. Fuller, Edmund, TINKERS AND GENIUS: THE STORY OF THE YANKEE INVENTORS, Hastings House, New York, (1955), B&W illustrations, 308pp, good+ w/lightly chipped dustjacket (hardcover), Published as part of the American Procession Series centering around epic episodes and cultural growth in American history., (Order No: 4374 ), $10.00
10. Hendricks, Gordon, BEGINNINGS OF THE BIOGRAPH, Beginnings of the Amer. Film, New York, 1964, B&W illustrations, 78pp, very good+ w/very good dustjacket (hardcover), "The Story of the Invention of the Mutoscope and the Biograph and Their Supplying Camera." The technical, commercial and theatrical beginnings of the company which furnished the milieu for D.W. Griffith and those who followed in giving shape and direction to the art of the American film., (Order No: 3581 ), $45.00
11. Hennessey, R. A. S., FACTORIES, B. T. Batsford Ltd., London, (1969), B&W illustrations, 96pp, good w/chipped dustjacket (hardcover) top corner 'light' chew, The author traces the history of the Industrial Revolution from its small beginnings in the cotton and iron industries to the vast industrial estates of our own day, and shows how almost all manufacturing processes have been transformed by factory methods, the skilled craftsman giving way to the machine hand., (Order No: 18859 ), $20.00
12. Howell, John W. & Schroeder, Henry, HISTORY OF THE INCANDESCENT LAMP, The Maqua Company, Publ., Schenectady, NY, 1927, B&W ill., diagrams, 208pp, good, green cloth (hardcover) light edgewear, Technical development of the electric lamp and the contributions of various men to it, especially Edison. Larson 2440., (Order No: 2165 ), $50.00
13. Jehl, Francis, MENLO PARK REMINISCENCES - WRITTEN IN EDISON'S RESTORED MENLO PARK LABORATORY - THREE VOLUME SET COMPLETE, Kessinger Publishing Co., Kila, MT, orig pub 1937, B&W illustrations, 3 vols, 1156pp, very good+, wraps (softcover), ISBN 0922802157 The inventions of Edison. Volume One, Part One covers years prior to 1879 and Part Two the invention of the electric light in 1879. Volume Two, covers the early development of electric lighting, and later development. Volume Three covers the Lighting of New York City., (Order No: 2139 ), $27.50
14. Pretzer, William S. (edited by), WORKING AT INVENTING: THOMAS A. EDISON AND THE MENLO PARK EXPERIENCE, Henry Ford Museum, Dearborn, MI, (1989), B&W illustrations, 142pp, good w/good dustjacket (hardcover), ISBN 00933728336 A collection of original essays about Thomas A. Edison's "invention factory." The authors provide insights into the working habits of America's most famous inventor and his associates., (Order No: 52634 ), $20.00
15. Swift, R. B., WHO INVENTED THE REAPER?, Chicago, IL, (1897), B&W illustrations, 54pp, good, red cloth (hardcover), AN ANSWER TO THE PROTEST STATEMENT SAID TO HAVE BEEN FILED AT THE TREASURY DEPARTMENT., (Order No: 51438 ), $30.00
16. Weber, Robert J., FORKS, PHONOGRAPHS, AND HOT AIR BALLOONS: A FIELD GUIDE TO INVENTIVE THINKING, Oxford University Press, London, 1992 1st ptg, 277pp, very good+ w/very good dustjacket (hardcover), ISBN 019506402X How do inventions take shape? How did the inventors of the sewing needle, the hammer, or the wheel find their ideas? The author takes a look at how our world of inventions came into being, and how the mind's problem-solving abilities gave them the forms they have., (Order No: 8362 ), $10.00
17. Wilson, Mitchell, AMERICAN SCIENCE AND INVENTION, Bonanza Books, New York, orig pub 1954, B&W illustrations, 438pp, very good w/good dustjacket (hardcover), A Pictorial History. The fabulous story of how American dreamers, wizards, and inspired tinkerers converted a wilderness into the wonder of the world., (Order No: 2547 ), $7.50