MECHANICAL WORKS - "Representation of the... - Lot 182 - Eric Caudron

MECHANICAL WORKS - "Representation of the MECHANICAL WORKS invented and executed by the Sirs P.J. DROZ and H.L.J. DROZ, famous artists of the CHAUDEFOND". c.1775. RARE etching and burin by Balthasar Anton DUNKER and finished by F. LARDY, after the drawing by Dunker in England. Proof with the letter, on laid paper. Text in the tablet "We thought to please the amateurs of the Drawing as well as those of the Works of Mechanics, by gathering on the same plate, objects which, successively, made the admiration of all Europe, & to procure to those which already saw these pieces the means of recalling them easily, & on others to form a right idea of them. The first piece represents a child of about two years old, sitting on a stool & writing on a desk: this child, who writes indifferently whatever one judges appropriate to dictate to him, observes everything that a living person would do in such a case. Proper distance between words, legible letters, right arrangement of the lines, securing of the pen too full of ink &c. The second piece is also a child of the age of the first one who handles the pencil with great skill: [...]". 39,3 x 45,2 cm. Condition B/C (cut inside the copperplate mark on three sides and at the edge of the square line at the top, some staining and spotting, rare old small consolidated tears). Very rare.