CHINESE RAILWAYS - RAPIER, Richard C.

£2,500 · Offered by Peter Harrington · No longer available

Remunerative Railways for New Countries; with Some Account of the First Railway in China. First edition, presentation copy, inscribed by the author at the head of the title page, "Monsieur Eloi Béral, with the Author's Compliments." This desirable work includes a 22-page discussion of the construction and opening of the Shanghai-Woosung railway and eight photographs showing construction in progress, the engine (Pioneer), the crowd for Pioneer's first journey, Woosung station, and the engine and carriage sheds at Shanghai.In the early 1870s, Richard Rapier (1836-1897), of the engineering company Ransomes & Rapier, began exploring the possibility of introducing railways into China. Co-operating with Jardine, Matheson, he arranged for a team of six British engineers, led by Gabriel James Morrison, to Shanghai to oversee construction of a line nine miles in length and stretching from Shanghai's American Concession to the mouth of the Huangpu river. An engineering feat, it required 15 bridges and 20 culverts to traverse creeks and watercourses.The first journey, along three-quarters of a mile of completed track, was made on 14 February 1876 by Pioneer, a 1,300-kilogram saddletank specially designed for use in China by Ransomes & Rapier. Over the next few months, the remaining line was put in place to link the two terminals, and page 103 reproduces China's first ever railway timetable advertising services to run after 3 July 1876. New engines and carriages were shipped to Shanghai

Found via Rare Books Intel, a search across rare-book dealers, auction houses and marketplaces worldwide.