Jean-Baptiste de LA RUE, Traité de la coupe des... Lot 47

Jean-Baptiste de LA RUE, Traité de la coupe des pierres, où par une méthode facile & abrégée, l'on peut aisément se perfectionner en cette Science. Examiné & approuvé par l'Académie Royale d'Architecture Paris, Imprimerie Royale, 17281 vol. in-folio: 8f. including title, 185p., 72pl. [pl. 44 missing], num. I - LXVII, then A - F, mostly folding. For ease of reading, 28 plates are repeated twice, 1 three times. The moving parts are present. Copy of the first printing on strong paper (a frontispiece was added in 1738, no doubt to compete with Frézier's work). Slight traces of use, rare stains. Sewn copy, therefore a little out of order. Bound in full contemporary 6-rib raciné calf for technical use. Provenance: handwritten ex-libris on title page "Ex-libris est à JB Chevalier à Carcassonne, ce 27 juin 1751"; Carcassonne auction house in 1989Original edition of this important treatise on lithotomy, an exercise in spatial geometry compulsory for those required to cut stones and, in particular, all the structural elements essential to the stability of structures. The work was republished in 1762.