Nottingham, printed by H. Barnett and sold by Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme and Brown, London. 1819

xix + 62 ppl, plus engraved frontis of the Derbyshire General Infirmary and 10 full-page engraved plates. 4to. Original marbled boards, sympathetically rebacked to make a vg copy with new spine label. Ex subscription library, with elegant label fep and embossed blind stamps on some pages. Built in the early 1800s, Derbyshire Infirmary was one of the most advanced buildings of its day, and adopted the most up-to-date standards of ventilation and sanitation. William Strutt (1756-1830), a pioneer of heating by convection, designed the warming system as well as the toilet facilities, oven and laundry facilities. Sylvester, the author of this volume, was Strutt's assistant engineer at the Infirmary. His Philosophy of Domestic Economy is the principal published source on the groundbreaking project, giving complete plans of the original building, along with details of the hot air stove, drying closet, roasting oven, and waterclosets. Scarce.

London Cassell, Petter, Galpin & Co. nd 1870-1873

Publication in parts begun in 1870 - 104 parts issued, completed 1872. Four volumes, each with chromolithographic frontis. Vol. 1: iv + 412 pp; Vol. 2: iv + 412 pp; Vol. 3: iv + 412pp; and Vol. 4: iv + 428 pp. Small 4to. Publisher's quarter calf with gilt lettering. Vg. Collection of Dresser's series of 31 articles, including the first printing of his article "Principles of Design" within these volumes. The articles formed the basis of the 1876 book, 'Studies in Design'. Dresser's designs include the first appearance of his aesthetic teapot. Other articles include 'Chemistry Applied to the Arts', 'Material on Colour Pigments', 'Civil Engineering', 'Colour Theory' (by A H Church) 'The Lathe', 'Optical Instruments', 'Museums: Their Construction, Arrangement and Management', 'Photography, 'Ship Building', etc. Bright set. A brilliant example of journals at the time demonstrating the whole range of interests the Victorians held in design matters. Cassell's Technical Educator was the most successful of the Victorian self-help part-works. It was a companion to Cassell's New Popular Educator. It appears to have come out in fortnightly issues over a period of 2 years - although most surviving copies seem to have been sold as two or four volume sets. The intended readership was evidently the upwardly mobile class of skilled artisans and mechanics.