Visual Mechanic Knowledge

Markham’s 60 drawings are the earliest-known set of textile machine maker’s workshop drawings in the U.S. prepared primarily for cotton machinery but also for wool carding and spinning equipment. Prepared between 1814 and 1825, this book includes an examination of its provenance, a biography of the draftsman, and an analysis of the historical contexts shaping both draftsman and drawings. His drawings are evidence of the transition from pre-industrial to industrial visual forms of technical knowledge, and of a much wider knowledge revolution in the U.S. The drawings also demonstrate the ubiquity of inventiveness at the extremity of the well-known American and transatlantic mechanic networks. Black and white and color plates.