An Account of the Construction of the Britannia and Conway Tubular Bridges, FAIRBAIRN William [Sir] 1789-1874 Publisher: John Weale, and Longman, Brown, Green and Longmans, Publish Year: 1849 Publish Place: London: No 59 High Holborn, and Paternoster Row. Illustrator: HUXLEY George. LOWRY JW. Category: Miscellaneous, Foreign Travel, Antiquarian Book, History, Reference Book No: 007501 Status: For Sale Book Condition: Very Good Size: 4to - over 9¾" - 12" tall Jacket Condition: Unknown Binding: Hardcover Book Type: Unknown Edition: First Edition Inscription: Unknown £100 Add to Basket Ask a question Refer to a friend Additional information Early stream train image. VG, 1st ed, 1849, 20 pls In the publishers maroon quarter morocco over maroon cloth, faded at edges, corners bumped. Spine, gilt titles & tooling, edges worn. Internally, folding frontis, [5], (vi-xii), [1], 2-291 pp, 20 pls (mostly folding, including frontis), some plates with repaired crease tears, 74 illustrations within text, small bookbinder label to fpd, printed by R & JE Taylor, Red Lion Court, Fleet Street. Uncommon. (248*150 mm). (Allibone 571). Fairbairn assisted Robert Stephenson with the design of the tubular bridge over the Menai Strait. The bridge was successfully raised in April 1848, but there was later a controversy over Fairbairn's contribution. In order to put the record straight he published his own version of events, An account of the construction of the Britannia and Conway tubular bridges, with a complete history of their progress (1849). He and Stephenson had also in October 1846 jointly taken out a patent for the new principle of wrought-iron girders that had been devised for the bridge. See ODNB.
