John Farey, Jun. (1791-1850)

Drawings for Windmills, including a post mill and a smock mill

Details
John Farey, Jun. (1791-1850)
Drawings for Windmills, including a post mill and a smock mill
three signed 'Farey' or 'J. Farey', dated '1814-17' and numbered '19-22' and '25' (three on the reverse)
pen and ink and watercolour
20½ x 14¼in. (52.1 x 36.3cm.); and slightly smaller (5)
Provenance
C. Whittaker; Sotheby's London, 5 April 1973, lot 57 (£800).

Lot Essay

John Farey, Junior, was a civil and mechanical engineer. He began working as a draughtsman in 1805 and over the next 20 years executed a large number of drawings for various publications, including Rees's and other encyclopaedias and patent journals.
In 1807 Farey invented an instrument for making perspective drawings, for which he received a Silver Medal from the Society of Arts; and in 1813 he made a machine for drawing eclipses for which he was awarded a Gold Medal.
In 1817 Farey worked in Russia as a civil engineer in the construction of ironworks and later, in 1827 published a treatise on the steam engine.
The fine drawings included in this sale do not appear to have been published. The post mill in the drawings numbered '19' and '20' is probably copied from a Dutch mill book from the 18th Century and the smock mill in the drawings numbered '21', '22', and '25', was almost certainly never built.

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