(Brunel) Beamish, Richard
Memoir of the life of Sir Marc Isambard Brunel.
London, Green, Longman, and Roberts 1862.
Full Description
8vo. (16)(ex 18, no half title leaf)+(2)+359+(1)pp, engraved portrait frontispiece with facsimile autograph of M.I. Brunel, (8) engraved plates, text ills. Recent quarter calf, cloth sides. Foxing to first and last few leaves, occasional light foxing in text, offsetting affecting title leaf.
Scarce illustrated biography of the engineer Marc Isambard Brunel (1769-1849), father of the better-known Isambard Kingdom Brunel. Although born in northern France, Brunel was forced to emigrate to America after the French Revolution and found success as an engineer, eventually being appointed Chief Engineer to New York City. In 1799 he moved to England, and after some financial difficulties also found success here with his sub-aqueous Thames Tunnel, the first of its kind, which opened in 1843 and is still used as a tunnel for underground trains. Beamish’s memoir traces Brunel’s earlier life in France and America, and covers all of his British undertakings in detail.