Manuel du sapeur-pompier
Paris: Lottin for Magimel and Gailard, 1816. 4to. [iv], 128, [4] pp. FIRST EDITION. 2 folding and 5 full-page etched plates of firefighters and their equipment. Contemporary gilt tooled calf, panels alike with outer rules and fleur-de-lis roll, spine and label gilt with 4 compartments of fleur-de-lis, board edges and turn-ins gilt, blue paper doublures, blue silk marker. A perfect copy. Item #18888
First edition of the first instruction manual for firefighters published in France. Written by the commander of the Paris Fire Brigade, it was updated and reprinted several times until 1848.
The first chapter describes the names and proper use of fire equipment (water pumps, hoses, and vehicles). The next part of the text, divided into “lessons,” details the logistics of fighting a fire, such as the number of men necessary for a job, the procedure for loading a carriage with pumps and hoses, where to position the men with hoses, how to determine the amount of equipment that will be needed, working together to operate large pumps, the best points of entry into a fire, and various safety precautions. The last section addresses different kinds of fires: chimneys, cellars, rooms, hallways, and public buildings, with special attention to fires in theaters. The final four pages list the addresses of all the fire stations in Paris by arrondissement.
OCLC finds two other copies of this first edition, one in France and one in Germany.
Price: $4,200.00