La Géométrie Pratique. Survey manuals in France Between the 18th and 19th Centuries.

This study investigates architectural survey practices between the 18th and 19th centuries. Much has been written about the magnificent drawings of the pensionnaires of the French Academy in Rome but very little is known regarding architects’ practical training and about how their surveys were actually carried out. An important source used to trace back to the knowledge and procedures of architects at the time under analysis consists of educational manuals on land surveying that appeared in France at the end of the 18th century. Referring to basic mathematical-geometric proficiency, they provide a framework of the methods and logical procedures of land and architectural surveys. At the beginning of the 19th century there is a widespread proliferation of this type of publication, as testified by the number of manuals found in the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris. This study is based on a direct examination of more than thirty original volumes, published between 1673 and 1845, that truly testify to the extent of French publishing at the time. In analysing the manuals, the following matters were considered: the addressees and the authors of the manuals, the articulation of their content, the role of geometry, the description of employed instruments, and the explanation of applied methods.