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Steamboat Round the Bend

Watt, James, Scottish inventor (1736-1819). Autograph letter signed ("James Watt").

[Birmingham], 29. XII. 1818.

8vo. ½ p. on bifolium with integral address panel. Remains of seal. Includes a steel-engraved portrait of Watt.

Unpublished letter to Samuel Tertius Galton (1783-1844), businessman, scientist and father of Sir Francis Galton: "My Dear Sir. Will you do me the favour to dine with Mr [Thomas] Grahame, one of the council of the Forth & Clyde navigation, at my house to morrow. He wants some information about canal management [...]". A few years later, Thomas Grahame would demonstrate the efficiency of the use of steamboats on the Forth and Clyde Canal. The Council, of which he was a member, subsequently lifted the ban on steamers, and Grahame himself hired a small paddle steamboat which he operated successfully on the Canal.

Traces of folds.