CARBURI de CEFFALONIE, Marin. Monument Eleve a lo Gloire ou Relation des Travaux et des Moyens Mechaniques. Paris : Nyon and Stoupe, 1777.

First edition of this account of a remarkable feat of engineering; a lovely copy. Charged with creating a monument to Peter the Great, the French architect Falconet decided that the traditional pedestals for equestrian statues would be too mundane for this project and decided that only a massive rock would be suitable. After a great deal of searching for a suitable stone a peasant informed the committee set up for the purpose that he had found an enormous rock in a marsh near the Gulf of Finland, measuring forty by twenty-seven by twenty-one feet. After most engineers had declared its removal impossible Catherine the Great turned to Carburi who in about ten weeks had the rock placed in the correct position. In his youth, the author had committed some crime against his family; he banished himself from his native island of Cephalonia and had come to Russia where he found favor with Catherine II.

Folio (460 x 300mm). Uncut, 12 folding plates (last 2 with dampstain to upper third). Original plain wrappers (some general soiling).