Locomotives

1872 · 62362 — London: Effingham Wilson Royal Exchange 1872. 8vo. 4 147 1 pp. 3 woodcut-engraved plates 4 collotype sepia-tinted photo plates w/ tissue guards present 5 plates 3 large folding. Brick-red publisher’s cloth gilt lettering front cover & spine scuffing & wear head & foot of spine minor wear to corners shaken still a VG- copy from the library of former Confederate officer Colonel and later Colonel Richard L. Maury 1840-1907 served in the Army of Northern Virginia for the Confederacy was Superintendent of Immigration under Emperor Maximilian and by 1868 became a respected lawyer in Virginia and was son of the noted scientist and inventor Matthew Fontaine Maury 1806-1873 best remembered for developing the electrically controlled naval mine as well as efforts to persuade European powers to support the Confederacy. First edition of this promotional work for the Fairlie articulated steam locomotive with driving wheels on bogies and at the time one named the “Mountaineer†had been ordered by the newly constructed Denver & Rio Grande Railroad and was the only Double Fairlie to operate on an American narrow gauge railway. After his initial trials for his invention Fairlie received many orders the newly developed locomotive and by 1876 43 different railways operated his patent locomotives which by 1870 were being produced by the Fairlie Engine & Steam Carriage Co. but ceased production after the death of his partner England. His locomotives proved especially popular in Mexico and 49 of his massive 0-6-00-6-0 were to remain in operation until the end of the 1920’s. See: Robin Jones Looking Both Ways: When Robert Fairlie ‘Double Up’ Steam The Railway Hub March 17 2022. Effingham Wilson, Royal Exchange, hardcover