115 - MANUSCRIPT. Treatise on the Movement of Sea and Freshwater in the Vicinity of Furnes, Nieuwpoort, Dunkirk, and Bergues. No place, 1744. Small folio. 75-(2) pp., 1 folding watercolor plate. Modern full red sheepskin binding, gilt title on the upper cover with a lace border, spine decorated with fleurs-de-lis. Ex libris.

MANUSCRIPT. Treatise on the Movement of Sea and Freshwater in the Vicinity of Furnes, Nieuwpoort, Dunkirk, and Bergues. No place, 1744. Small folio. 75-(2) pp., 1 folding watercolor plate. Modern full red sheepskin binding, gilt title on the upper cover with a lace border, spine decorated with fleurs-de-lis. Ex libris. A fine anonymous manuscript dated 1744, evidently written by a hydrological engineer; a technical and strategic document on hydraulic engineering. Control of the hydrographic network was crucial for military engineers at the time, particularly for organizing the bypassing and defensive or offensive flooding of the region. This treatise addresses the complex water management of Maritime Flanders (the Maritime Basin or Maritime Plain), an area of very low-lying polders often situated below sea level. EXPERT: Mr. GIARD